THE PEGASUS DAILY NEWS

[pegasus]

National Poison Prevention Week
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 85thth day of 2012 with 280 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:08 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 48ºF [Feels like 48ºF], winds NW @ 5 mph, humidity 78%, pressure 29.83 in and steady, dew point 46ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1306--Robert the Bruce was crowned the King of Scots.
1347--St. Catherine of Siena, Italian Dominican tertiary, mystic and patron Saint of Italy, was born; died 1380 at age 33.
1634--English Catholic colonists sent by fellow Catholic the 2nd Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.
1774--the English Parliament pases the Boston Port Act that closed the port of Boston and imposed a fine on Bostonians for the Boston Tea Party of 1773.
1776--Gen. George Washington was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal by the Continental Congress for leading the liberation of Boston from British troops.
1807--Great Britain abolished its slave trade.
1826--Matilda Gage, women's rights advocate, was born; died 1898 at age 71.
1865--Confederate forces attacked Fort Stedman in Virginia but were forced to withdraw by counterattacking Union troops.
1879--Little Wolf, often called "the greatest of the fighting Cheyenne," who had demonstrated brilliant understanding of battle tactics leading to dozens of important Cheyenne wins over other tribes and later the US Army, surrendered to his friend Lieutenant W. P. Clark.
1881--Bela Bartok, the Hungarian pianist who was one of the most important composers of the 20th century was born.; died 1945 at age 64/
1894--Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., to demand help from the federal government.
1911--Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York City was one of the darkest moments of America's industrial history, killing 145 mostly female workers.
1913--the home of vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.
1918--the Belarusian Peoples' Republic was established from Imperial Russia.
1928--James Lovell, former astronaut, turned 84 today.
1933--the USS Sequoia became the presidential yacht.
1934--feminist activist and author, Gloria Steinem, turned 78 today.
1941--Yugoslavia joined with the Axis powers of World War II.
1946--the USSR announced they were withdrawing from Iran.
1947--a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., claimed 111 lives.
1955--the US Customs confiscated 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg's book Howl,, printed in England., alleging it was obscene.
1957--the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community.
1958--Sugar Ray Robinson, considered the greatest prizefighter in history, defeated Carmen Basilio to regain the middleweight title, the 5th and final title of his career.
1960--the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled that the D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was not obscene and could be sent through the mails.
1965--the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
1967--the Rev. Martin Luther King led a maarch against the Vietnamese War.
1975--King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness, who was later executed.
1988--Robert E. Chambers Jr. pleaded guilty to 1st-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in New York City's so-called "preppie murder case."
1990--87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City.
1992--cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth from the Mir space station after a 10-month stay, during which his native country, the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.
1994--the last American troops departed Somalia.
1996--an 81-day standoff by the anti-government Freemen began at a ranch near Jordan, Mont.
2002--a powerful earthquake rocked Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, killing some 1,000 people.
2007--Iran partially suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog agency, over "illegal and bullying" sanctions imposed on the country for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
2007--Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi won Mauritania's first free presidential election in a runoff.
2011--Canadian opposition parties brought down the Conservative government in a no-confidence vote, triggering an election that gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper a clear Conservative majority in Parliament.

World News Capsules:
1. US pays families of Afghan victims in massacre.
....The families of 16 Afghan villagers killed this month by a rampaging American soldier were given $50,000 by the US for each of their slain relatives, Afghan and American officials said.
2. Hong Kong, divided over future, gets new leader.

....Leung Chun-ying, 57, won 689 of the 1,132 votes cast by members of the city’s Election Committee. He quickly tried to allay fears that he would restrict civil liberties in the former British colony.
a. Chna attacks Dalai Lama in online blast.
....China’s state-run news media sought to equate the Dalai Lama, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, with the Nazis and their genocidal war on European Jews.
3. Jp,ocodes om E; Sa;vadpr do[. amd qiestopms arose.
....The possibility that the reduction in violence resulted from a secret deal between the government and gang leaders has rattled the country’s political establishment.
4. In Europe, where art islife, ax flls on public financing.
....Europe's economic problems, and the austerity programs meant to address them, are forcing arts institutions there to curtail programs, tours and grants.
5. As displaced return to Iraq, new tensions for neighbors.
....Near-record numbers of families are coming home, in some cases reviving resentments created by bloody purges that carved Iraq into archipelagos of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
6. In Pope's Mexico visit, the pastoral is political.
....Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about violence in Mexico and Communism in Cuba suggest that the pope does not intend to ignore his potential political influence.
7. Coup leaders in Mali struggle to assert their control.
....Regional analysts and residents of Bamako, the capital, said little appeared to be resolved amid increasing isolation and rumors of an imminent countercoup.
8. Obama warns North Korea to end 'bad behavior..

....Pres. Obama arrived in Seoul to take part in a nuclear security summit meeting, but also made his first visit to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
9. US plans no charges over deadly strike in Pakistan.

....American officials, finding a chain of mistakes by both sides, have decided no service members will face disciplinary charges in a November airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
10. Vast tracts in Paraguay forest being replaced by ranches
.
....Huge sections of the Chaco forest are being razed by local Mennonite farmers and Brazilian cattle ranchers amid a surge in the global demand for beef.
11. Russia's TV broadcast besmirching protesters draws a furious reaction.
....As opposition leaders recover from the demise of mass antigovernment protests, some are looking to television as the next political battleground.
12. Syria continues drive to retake rebel strongholds as diplomacy suffers a setback.
....Syrian troops intensified an attack against the city of Homs, activists said, as a Kremlin official indicated Russia continues to disagree with the US on how to end the fighting.

US News Capsules:
1. Groups blanket Supreme Court on health care.
[imghttp://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120323030336-supreme-court-cu-story-top.jpg][/img]
....The nine justices will need steely nerves to block out all the noise surrounding a case that has generated an intense outside lobbying campaign.
2. For lawyer in Afghan killings, the latest in a series of challenging defenses.
....John Henry Browne, the lawyer defending the soldier charged with killing Afghan civilians, has long been the voluble and sometimes victorious defender of the virtually indefensible.
3. For Cheney, 71, new heart ends 20-month wait.

....Former Vice Pres. Dick Cheney is recovering at a Virginia hospital after awaiting a heart transplant for more than 20 months.
4. In Alabama, years after 10 Commandments fight, ex-justice plans return.
....Roy Moore, who defied a federal order to remove a 5,000-pound statue of the holy tablets from his Alabama courthouse, was removed as chief justice in 2003.
5. Both coasts watch closely as San Francisco faces erosion
.
....Every few years, stormy surf grinds away at Ocean Beach, a 3.5-mile stretch on the Pacific Ocean, pulling huge amounts of sand out to sea.
6. Suicides highlight failures of veterans' support system.
....Recent suicides of veterans point to serious communications failures at the Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, one of the agency’s elite campuses.
7. 'Pink slime' losing place on school lunch menus.
....News of the ammonia-treated additive, formally called lean finely textured beef, set off a reaction by schools and an announcement by the Agriculture Department.
8. Payments to Albuguerque officers are called a 'bounty system.'
....In Albuquerque, the families of people killed in recent police-involved shootings expressed outrage at a police union program that pays as much as $500 to officers involved in shootings
9. The electric car, unplugged.
....With high gas prices and environmental awareness, the future would seem to be bright for the electric car. But instead it’s iffy.
10. Insuring Hollywood against falls (but not flops).

....In the film world, Fireman’s Fund has become the go-to company for insuring against production injuries and accidents.
11. 6,000 records broken so far in March.

....First - hailstones were declared the largest on record to ever hit Hawaii. Second, one dead as tornadoes roar across the Ohio Valley. And third, warm weather cuts short US maple sugaring season, portending a shortage of maple syrup on the shelves.
12. MOVIES: 'Hunger Games' earns $155 million for third best opening of all time.

....Making history, Lionsgate's The Hunger Games[.u]"opened to an astounding $155 million at the domestic box office, the third-best debut of all time and the best for any film opening outside of summer.
13. REALITY TV: Camille Grammer didn't want to leave "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."

....Did Camille Grammer leave on her own terms -- or was she pushed out? As a source said, the 43-year-old ex-wife of Kelsey Grammer won't be coming back for season three of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
POLITICS:
1. Kennedy helped shape Romney's career, and still haunts it.
....Mitt Romney’s complicated relationship with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, from campaign foe to health care partner, helped shape both his political career and his image.
2. Santorum gets a boost in winning Louisiana.
....After suffering lopsided losses to Mitt Romney in the Illinois and Puerto Rico primaries, Rick Santorum nets a win in Louisiana that was propelled by social conservatives but is unlikely to derail Mitt Romney, his chief rival

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Mangled horses, maimed jockeys.

....The new economics of horse racing are making an always-dangerous game even more so, as lax oversight puts animal and rider at risk. An investigation by The New York Times has found that industry practices continue to put animal and rider at risk. A computer analysis of data from more than 150,000 races, along with injury reports, drug test results and interviews, shows an industry still mired in a culture of drugs and lax regulation and a fatal breakdown rate that remains far worse than in most of the world.
If anything, the new economics of racing are making an always-dangerous game even more so. Faced with a steep loss of customers, racetracks have increasingly added casino gambling to their operations, resulting in higher purses but also providing an incentive for trainers to race unfit horses. At Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the number of dead and injured horses has risen sharply since a casino opened there late last year.
Ruidoso Downs Race Track 6,900 feet up in New Mexico’s Sacramento Mountains is in a state with the worst safety record for racetracks, a place where most trainers who illegally pump sore horses full of painkillers to mask injury — and then race them — are neither fined nor suspended and owners of those drugged horses usually keep their winnings. The failure of regulators to stop that cheating is reflected in the numbers. Since 2009, records show, trainers at US tracks have been caught illegally drugging horses 3,800 times, a figure that vastly understates the problem because only a small percentage of horses are actually tested.

A state-by-state survey by The Times shows that about 3,600 horses died racing or training at state-regulated tracks over the last three years. In one 13-day stretch of racing in 2010 at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino in New Mexico, nine horses died racing, five were hauled away in ambulances and two jockeys were hospitalized, one in critical condition. “It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.” Even some of America’s most prestigious tracks, including Belmont Park, Santa Anita Park and Saratoga Race Course, had incident rates higher than the national average last year, records show.
Why racehorses break down at such a high rate has been debated for years, but the discussion inevitably comes back to drugs. Laboratories cannot yet detect the newest performance-enhancing drugs, while trainers experiment with anything that might give them an edge, including chemicals that bulk up pigs and cattle before slaughter, cobra venom, Viagra, blood doping agents, stimulants and cancer drugs. Illegal doping, racing officials say, often occurs on private farms before horses are shipped to the track. Few states can legally test horses there.
“They are pharmacist shops,” said Dr. George Maylin, the longtime head of New York State’s testing laboratory. “Nobody has any control over what they are doing.” Even so, legal therapeutic drugs — pain medicine in particular — pose the greatest risk to horse and rider. In England, where breakdown rates are half of what they are in the United States, horses may not race on any drugs.
At higher levels, pain medicine can mask injury, rendering prerace examinations less effective. If a horse cannot feel an existing injury, it may run harder than it otherwise would, putting extra stress on the injury. As many as 90 percent of horses that break down had pre-existing injuries, California researchers have found. “This is just a recipe for disaster,” said Dr. Tom David, who until this year was chief veterinarian for the Louisiana Racing Commission. “Inflamed joints, muscles and mild lameness are masked by medication and therefore undetectable to the examining veterinarian.”
While high-profile Triple Crown races get the most attention, the mainstay of racing in America is the lower tier, so-called claiming races. Horses in these races are most vulnerable, in part because regulators often give them less protection from potentially dangerous drugs. At Aqueduct, most of the 16 horses that have died so far this year were in the lower ranks, where purses have increased the fastest because of new casino money.
“It’s hard to watch these poor animals running for their lives for people who could really care less if they live,” said Dr. Margaret Ohlinger, a track veterinarian at Finger Lakes Casino and Racetrack in upstate New York. She performs pre-race inspections and treats horses injured in races but is not responsible for their overall care. Last year at the track, Dr. Ohlinger counted 63 dead horses. That, she said, is more than double the fatalities of five years earlier
Race officials have always done their best to hide fatal breakdowns, erecting screens around fallen horses and then refusing to disclose the tracks’ accident rates. But amid criticism that individual state racing commissions lacked the will to make the sport safer, and the threat of federal oversight, the industry promised changes, including new restrictions on the use of drugs, a program to accredit racetracks and drug-testing laboratories and uniform rules for punishing drug violators.
The industry also set up a national database where tracks were asked, but not required, to report injuries with the promise of confidentiality.
So far, the response to these reform measures has fallen far short of goals and there seems little likelihood of any change any time soon. I have always loved horse racing as a spectator. I used to attend races at Finger Lakes Race Track in Farmington, NY before the days of the casino's arrival. And enjoyed the sight of those gorgeous animals running full out. And in all the years I attended races there, I never saw a horse injred. And then came Barbaro and I hoped so hard that he would survive his accident. But he didn't. And since then there have been more top horses euthanized after accidents in major stake races.
You cannot imagine how much it pains me to say this, but for once I'm going to have to back PETA's campaign to do away with horse racng. It is evident that the industry is not going to change its ways. And so, just like with dog fighting, cock fighting, etc. it has to be stopped altogether.

Thought for Today
"Uninterpreted truth is as useless as buried gold."
—-[/i]Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), English biographer

Today's flower: Iris germanica or Adoragon German iris



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[pegasus]

Be a Mime Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 86th day of 2012 with 279 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:29 p.m., it's partly cloudy , temp 32ºF [Feels like 21ºF], winds NNW @ 16 mph, humidity 56%, pressure 30.16 in and rising, dew point 18ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

Today in History:
1804--the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
1812--an earthquake devastated Caracas, Venezuela, causing an est. 26,000 deaths, according to the U.S. Geological Survey..
1827--composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
1912--an explosion at the Jed Coal & Coke Co. Mine in West Virginia claimed the lives of 83 miners.
1930--retired Supreme Court Justice and the first women justice Sandra Day O'Connor turned 82 today.
1934--Leonard Nimoy, actor (Mr. Spock on Star Trek) and diector, turned 78 today/
1937--a 6-foot-tall statue of the cartoon character Popeye was unveiled during the Second Annual Spinach Festival in Crystal City, Texas.
1958--the U.S. Army launched America's 3rd successful satellite, Explorer 3.
1962--the Supreme Court, in Baker v. Carr, gave federal courts the power to order reapportionment of states' legislative districts, a 6-2 decision that eventually led to the doctrine of "one man, one vote."
1979--a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by Pres. Carter at the White House.
1982--groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial .
1992--a judge in Indianapolis sentenced former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison for raping a Miss Black America contestant.
1997--the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
2002--Arthur Andersen chief executive Joseph Berardino resigned, bowing to mounting pressure as a result of the accounting firm's role in the Enron scandal.
2007--the US Army concluded that high-ranking officers had made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL star by fellow soldiers. (The findings were rejected by Tillman's family.)
2011--more than 250,000 people took to London's streets to protest the toughest spending cuts since World War II; riot police clashed with small breakaway groups and arrested more than 200 people.
2011--former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first female major party nominee for the office, died in Boston at age 75.

World News Capsules:

US News Capsules:

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"Life's like a play; it's not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters."
—-Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.-A.D. 65), Roman statesman and philosopher

Today's flower: Hemerocallis or daring dilemma daylily

[pegasus]

Be a Mime Day
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 86th day of 2012 with 279 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:01 p.m., it's fair , temp 35ºF [Feels like 25ºF], winds NW @ 17 mph, humidity 34%, pressure 30.17 in and rising, dew point 9ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

Today in History:
1776--South Carolina approves new constitution.
1804--the Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
1812--an earthquake devastated Caracas, Venezuela, causing an est. 26,000 deaths, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
1832--the American Fur Company adoptrf the latest in transportation technology, dispatching the company's new steamboat Yellowstone to pick up furs in Montana.
1827--composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
1864--Gen. James B. McPherson assumed command of the Union Army of the Tennessee after William T. Sherman became the overall leader in the West.
1872--a deadly earthquake felt from Mexico to Oregon rocks the Owens Valley in California, killing 30 people.
1874--Robert Frost, the American writer who received three Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry, was born in San Francisco; died 1963 at age 88.
1885--the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. of Rochester, NY, manufactured the first commercial motion picture film.
1911--playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss.
1912--an explosion at the Jed Coal & Coke Co. Mine in West Virginia claimed the lives of 83 miners.
1960--F.Scot Fitzgerald published his first novel, This Side of Paradise.
1930--retired Supreme Court Justice and the first women justice Sandra Day O'Connor turned 82 today.
1934--Leonard Nimoy, actor (Mr. Spock on Star Trek) and diector, turned 78 today/
1937--a 6-foot-tall statue of the cartoon character Popeye was unveiled during the Second Annual Spinach Festival in Crystal City, Texas.
1950--Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) charged that Owen Lattimore of the US State Department was a Soviet spy, becoming a central figure in the Red Scare hysteria creatd by McCarthy's reckless accusations and charges.
1953--Dr. Jonas Salk announced his development of a polio vaccine.
1955--"Black" music got whitewashed, as Georgia Gibbs hit the pop charts with "The Wallflower (Dance With Me, Henry)."
1958--the U.S. Army launched America's 3rd successful satellite, Explorer 3.
1962--the Supreme Court, in Baker v. Carr, gave federal courts the power to order reapportionment of states' legislative districts, a 6-2 decision that eventually led to the doctrine of "one man, one vote."
1964--the musical Funny Girl starring Barbra Streisand, opened on Broadway.
1969--a group called Women Strike for Peace demonstrate in Washington, D.C., in the first large antiwar demonstration since President Richard Nixon's inauguration
1971--East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.
1975--the city of Hue fell to the communists in Vietnam.
1979--Earvin "Magic" Johnson led the Michigan State Spartans to a 75- 64 victory over Larry Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game.
1979--a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by Pres. Carter at the White House.
1982--groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial .
1987--a torture chamber was uncovered by police in Philadelphia, Pa in the basement of Gary Heidnik's dilapidated house where three naked women were found chained to a sewer pipe.
1992--a judge in Indianapolis sentenced former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison for raping a Miss Black America contestant.
1997--the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate techno-religious cult who'd committed suicide were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
1999--Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of 2nd-degree murder for giving a lethal injection to an ailing man whose death was shown on 60 Minutes.
2000--Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia for the 1st ime.
2002--Arthur Andersen chief executive Joseph Berardino resigned, bowing to mounting pressure as a result of the accounting firm's role in the Enron scandal.
2007--the US Army concluded that high-ranking officers had made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL star by fellow soldiers. (The findings were rejected by Tillman's family.)
2008--Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata.
2011--more than 250,000 people took to London's streets to protest the toughest spending cuts since World War II; riot police clashed with small breakaway groups and arrested more than 200 people.
2011--former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first female major party nominee for the office, died in Boston at age 75.

World News Capsules:
1. Obama urges China to restrain North Korea.
....Speaking to 400 students at a foreign affairs university, Pres. Obama paid tribute to the transformation of South Korea and challenged North Korea to give up its belligerent behavior.
2. Raul Castro greets Pope Benedict at start of closely watched visit.

....Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba, welcomed by Pres. Raúl Castro, who gripped the pontiff’s hands in greeting but did not kiss his ring.
a. Catholic Church deals with a diminished role in Cuban life.

....Since most restrictions on worship were lifted in the early 1990s, it has been Pentecostal and evangelical churches that have watched their membership rolls explode.
3. France to bar some Muslim clerics.
....The announcement, made by Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy, was considered another political response to the terrorist killings carried out in Toulouse.
a. Strauss-Kahn charged with 'aggravated pimping..

....Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged in France for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring, prosecutors said.
4. Cash-for-access scandal leaves David Cameron's UK government reeling.

....The government of British Prime Minister David Cameron was reeling after a video emerged showing his Conservative Party's top fundraiser claiming to offer access to senior politicians in exchange for large donations.
a. Great Britain seeks investigation of businessman's death in China.
....The British government said that it has asked China to investigate the death of a British citizen with apparent ties to the family of a dismissed Chinese Politburo member.
5. Tibetan in Delhi sets self alight to protest Chinese leader's visit.
....Chinese President Hu Jintao will be in Delhi later this week for an emerging markets summit.
a. Indian activist attempts revival of anti-graft drime.
....The activist Anna Hazare staged a one-day hunger strike on Sunday, but after a few difficult months, the potency of his protest movement no longer seemed certain.
6. With summit of Arab leaders, Iraq seeks to shift image.
....For Iraqi diplomats and officials, a three-day meeting of the Arab League is a banner moment for a country emerging from decades of war, occupation and diplomatic isolation.
7. Not worth the paper it's built on.
....After losing everything in the collapse of the Irish economy, Frank Buckley built his home from bricks made out of shredded, decommissioned euro notes.
8. At mass in Mexico, Pope urges humility and trust.
....At an open-air ceremony in a nation wracked by drug violence, Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to trust in God in the face of evil and sin.
9. Wielding fire, Islamists target Nigeria schools.

....For a town in northern Nigeria already living in fear of a violent Islamist group, the arson of school buildings is the latest outrage.
10. In Pakistan, Hindus say woman's conversion to Islam was coerced.
....Over the past month, a Hindu woman’s conversion has generated an acrid controversy that has reverberated far beyond its origins in small-town Pakistan, whipping up a media frenzy.
11. A turbulence-free election in Senegal.
....Pres. Abdoulaye Wade conceded to Macky Sall, a onetime protégé of his and a former prime minister, in a rare example of a prompt and peaceful political turnover in the region.
12. Spain's ruling party disappointed in regional ballot.
....The governing Popular Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy failed to win an absolute majority in elections in Andalusia, Spain’s most populous region.
13. US and Turkey to step up 'nonlethal' aid to rebels in Syria.
....Opposition groups will receive assistance such as communications equipment and medical supplies, an American official said. Separately, Turkey said it would remove its diplomats from Damascus.

US News Capsules:
1. In health care case, lawyers train for 3-day marathon.

(People lined up for tickets to the Supreme Court hearing on the health care law)
....Practice sessions for the lawyers debating Presi. Obama's health care law in Supreme Court arguments this week have stretched the supply of colleagues willing to play the justices.
a. Neither phones, nor camers, or tweets in the Supreme Court.

....No Twitter posts, phone calls or laptops will be allowed during Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of the health care law.
b. Supreme Court orders new look at gene patents.
....Appellate judges were told to reconsider a ruling that let Myriad Genetics patent two genes that confer a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
c. Justices return Jerusalem status case to lower court.
....The court postponed a ruling on the executive branch’s contention that Congress does not have the power to allow Americans born in Jerusalem to claim Israel as their birthplace on passports.
2. Town jumps on board to embrace a Marine.
....Building a house for a wounded Marine has involved generosity and connections that strike Glastonbury, Conn., as something more than random luck.
3. School district told to replace web filter blocking pro-gay sites.
....A judge has ordered Camdenton school district in Missouri to replace a filter that puts pro-gay sites in the sexuality category, but allows antigay sites, which are often classified as religious.
4. Anger at Goldman still simmers.
....Testifying recently in a lawsuit that is unrelated to Copper River's closing, its chief maintained that actions taken in the fall of 2008 by Goldman Sachs had done irreparable damage to his fund.
5. Police report details alleged attack on Zimmerman.
....The man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin told police Martin attacked him, an account that police said some witnesses have corroborated, according to [/i]The Orlando Sentinel.
a. For Trevyon Martin's case, a long route to national attention.
....It took several weeks, after word spread on Facebook and Twitter of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, for the news to become widely reported by the national media.
b. Florida teen had been suspended over marijuana.
....A plastic bag with traces of the drug had been found in Trayvon Martin’s bookbag, a lawyer said.
6. MUSIC: Introspection for a pop star: just remember her name

....Madonna’s new album, MDNA, is a bipolar collection of songs whose familiar poses matter less than the panache of their delivery.
a. Bringing an open-source ethos to bands.
....CASH Music is part of a growing number of behind-the-scenes companies that handle business tasks like marketing and merchandising that used to be the domain of record labels.
7. TV: Coarse, bawdy and emerging as an advertising haven.

....FX has consciously carved a niche in the new TV landscape, following a blueprint to lure younger viewers who watch FX shows like Sons of Anarchy whom marketers pay a premium to reach.
8. Senators question employer requests for Facebook passwords.
....A request to determine whether demanding sign-on credentials from job seekers is legal.
9. BMW recalls 367,000 cars in the US.

....BMW is recalling 367,000 5-series and 6-series cars in the US because a battery cable cover in the trunk may have been incorrectly installed.
POLITICS:
1. Santorum ignores pressure to bow out to Romney.
....More Republicans are becoming restless and eager to unite behind a single candidate and turn their focus to defeating Pres. Obama.
2. Gingrich is soldiering on, despite dearth of victories.
....Despite having won few Republican primaries, Newt Gingrich says he is in the presidential race for the long haul.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Sanatorum loses cool with press over Romney comment.

What started as a good day for Rick Santorum took an abrupt turn he grew frustrated with reporters asking him to clarify his remark that Mitt Romney is the worst Republican in the country to take on President Obama. During his final campaign stop, he said of Romney, “Pick any other Republican in the country, he is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."
The comments, Santorum would clarify, were in reference to the similarities between Romney's and the president on the issue of health care. It is a common critique he levels against his chief rival, but never has the former Pennsylvania senator called Romney the "worst Republican in the country" to go head-to-head with the president. Eventually, when facing the same question again, he used a profane word and accused the media of "distorting" his speech.
Santorum has done a lot of clarifying lately, with recent comments suggesting Obama would be a better choice than Romney in a general election and saying the unemployment rate will not affect his campaign. In both cases, he accused the media and his opponents of taking his words out of context. But in both cases, the Romney campaign used his own words against him. Sunday's remarks were no exception, with Romney spokesman Ryan Williams telling reporters, “Rick Santorum is becoming more desperate and angry and unhinged every day...He’s panicking in the final stages of his campaign.” And by Sunday's end, Romney advisers were using the hash tag "Tantorum" to draw attention to past instances of the former senator losing his cool. The response blasted out by the Santorum campaign no mention of his use of a not so family friendly word.
So once more we have an example of Santorum not being fit to be president. He seems to be a amn who cannot control his tongue or his temper, neither traits suitable in a man who wants to be president of the US.

Health care's big four issues: What the justices willl tackle.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) was signed into law March 23, 2010, passed by a Democratic congressional majority and championed by President Obama. It has about 2,700 pages and contains 450 some provisions. Here are the four issues that will be addressed by the Supreme Court during six hours of oral arguments Monday though Wednesday:

The Anti-injunction Act (gateway issue)[/u].
Would those challenging the law be barred from making any legal or constitutional claims until the key provision -- the individual mandate (see below) -- actually goes into effect in 2014? The Anti-Injunction Act, in place since the 19th century, bars claimants from asking for a refund on a tax until that tax has been collected and paid. Judges in two federal appeals courts have made that "threshold" argument, which would effectively stop the current legal fight in its tracks. Citing that law might give the court -- particularly conservative members -- a way out of deciding the explosive issue in an election year.
[/li][li][/i]Individual Mandate (key issue)[/u].
This provision requires nearly all Americans to buy some form of health insurance beginning in 2014 or face financial penalties. May the federal government, under the Constitution's Commerce Clause, regulate economic "inactivity"? Three federal appeals courts have found the PPACA to be constitutional, while another has said it is not, labeling it "breathtaking in its expansive scope." That "circuit split" all but assured the Supreme Court would step in and decide the matter. A coalition of 26 states led by Florida say individuals cannot be forced to buy insurance, a "product" they may neither want nor need. The Justice Department has countered that since every American will need medical care at some point in their lives, individuals do not "choose" to participate in the health care market. Millions of uninsured people have received health services, costs that are shifted to insurance companies and passed on to consumers.
[/li][li][/i]Severabilit (domino effect issue)[/u].
If the individual mandate section is ruled unconstitutional, must the entire law collapse as well? A federal judge in Florida had so ruled in February 2011: "Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void." But a federal appeals court subsequently overruled on the severability question, while upholding the individual mandate's unconstitutionality. This might be the one question on which the justices will ultimately agree in favor of the government.
[/li][li][/i]Medicaid "coercion" (national policy implications)[/u].
This hearing will look at whether states can be forced by the federal government to expand their share of Medicaid costs and administration, with the risk of losing that funding if they refuse. The 28 GOP-led states bringing separate lawsuits say the new law's significant expansion of the social safety net unconstitutionally "coerces" state governments. The "coercion" issue was surprisingly added to the health care debate by the justices.
[/li][/ul]
Both sides of the issue agree what the high court decides on these four questions could have monumental implications for the regulatory ability of the federal government to set long-term national policy goals in areas such as the environment, education and the workplace. Some states have long complained their autonomy is being eroded by creeping federal intervention on spending matters. No federal court has ever ruled states have been unlawfully coerced when they accept conditions or strings attached to federal funds. The Supreme Court in 1987 affirmed that congressional discretion.
So the long-standing fight over "federalism" and the leverage the national government wields over states might soon reach epic levels with a high court decision either strengthening or limiting congressional authority on this and potentially a host of other regulatory areas.

Thought for Today
"Life's like a play; it's not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters."
—-[/i]Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.-A.D. 65), Roman statesman and philosopher

Today's flower: Hemerocallis or daring dilemma daylily



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Fly a Kite Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 87th day of 2012 with 278 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:02 p.m., it's fair , temp 37ºF [Feels like 34ºF], winds NNW @ 5 mph, humidity 35%, pressure 30.35 in and falling, dew point 9ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

World News Capsules:
1. Afghan sldiers arrested in suspected attack against government.
....The Afghan Defense Ministry went into a lockdown after the discovery of 10 suicide vests.
a. Support in the US for Afghan war drops sharply, poll finds.

....A New York Times/CBS News poll found that 69% of Americans surveyed think that the US should not be at war in Afghanistan.
2. Across Africa, steady steps toward democracy.

....Despite continuing setbacks, such as the recent coup in Mali, democratic rule is gaining a firmer foothold across Africa.
3. Brazil's unique culture group stays busy sharing the wealth.

....Brazil's most active culture organization, SESC, finances not just arts programs but also books, CDs, courses, recreation and health clinics, and it is raising the country's global profile.
4. Bo Xilai's China crime crackdown adds to scandal.

....Disturbing new details are emerging about an anticrime initiative led by the ousted party official Bo Xilai.
5. Raúl Castro greets Pope Benedict at start of closely watched visit.
....Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba on Monday, welcomed by President Raúl Castro, who gripped the pontiff's hands in greeting but did not kiss his ring.
6. Al Jazeera will not air French rampage video.
....Al Jazeera received a video of the murderous rampage in southwest France but said that it would not air the gruesome footage amid strong objections from Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy.
7. German leader agrees to more bailout oney for Euro Zone nations.
....Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said a new 500 billion euro fund could operate in tandem with a temporary one that still has money.
8. Syria reportedly accepts peace plan as clashes erupt near Lebanon.
....Fighting was reported to have broken out on the border of northeast Lebanon on Tuesday between Syrian government troops and rebels who have taken refuge there, reports said.
9. Tunisia says constitution will not cite Islamic law.
....Ennahda, the ruling Islamist party, said the decision was an effort to unify a nation with disparate political factions.

US News Capsules:
1. Surgery for diabetes may be better than standard treatment.
....Bariatric surgery, in which the stomach is stapled and the small intestine rerouted, puts the disease into remission far more often than drugs, diet and exercise, researchers say.
2. US agency seeks tougher consumer privacy rules.
....The Federal Trade Commission asked for legislation that would allow consumers to have access to the information collected on them by so-called data brokers.
3. Silencing the guns.
....In response to the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, Congress demonstrates the worst kind of bipartisanship: paralysis and inaction on assault weapons.
4. Vindication for challenger of health care law.
....Randy E. Barnett, a Georgetown law professor, has argued long and loud that the requirement to buy health insurance is unconstitutional.
a. Most oppose at least part of overhaul, poll finds.

....A New York Times/CBS News poll finds the individual mandate at the heart of opposition to the law.
b. Awaiting health law ruling, and preparing Plan B.

....State officials and insurance executives are devising possible alternatives to the coming federal requirement that most Americans buy health insurance.
5. Supervising priest goes on trial in abuse case.
....Msgr. William J. Lynn is the first supervisor of priests to be tried on charges of endangering children and conspiracy, in a landmark trial in Philadelphia
6. New ideas on pensions: use states.
....Some state officials are considering a novel proposal to rebuild America's ailing retirement system: having state pension funds run retirement plans for companies.
7. Learning to drive with A.D.H.D..

....Jillian Serpa, 21, of Ringwood, N.J., with her mother after failing on her fourth attempt to acquire a driver's license. Learning to drive is hard and scary for many teenagers, but the challenges are significantly greater for adolescents who have attention problems.
8. Gunman's account of beating by teenager is detailed.
....Thousands expressed support for Trayvon Martin as a police report detailed an account by George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him.
9. Colorado revisits law that gives prosecutors wide power to try youths as adults.
....A bill that cleared the state House would limit the ability of district attorneys to bypass judges and file adult charges against youths accused of certain crimes.


Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light."
-—Dorothy Thompson (1894-1961), American journalist

Today's flower: Monarda or petit delight bee balm

[pegasus]

Respect Your Cat Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 88th day of 2012 with 277 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:57 p.m., it's partlyc loudy , temp 71ºF [Feels like 71ºF], winds W @ 18 mph, humidity 34%, pressure 29.52 in and falling, dew point 41ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

World News Capsules:
1. Report finds continued jailing for Afghan girls running from abuse.
....The report comes from Human Rights Watch, which interviewed 58 women and girls in prison and found that more than half of them were there for acts that in most countries would not be considered crimes.
a. Report of bomb plot puts Afghan defense ministry in lockdown.
....The Afghan Defense Ministry went on high alert after the discovery of 10 suicide vests.
2. Murdoch's News Ltd. rejects TV piracy claim in Australia.
....An Australian newspaper’s report that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation had sabotaged competitors in the 1990s was dismissed by the company’s Australian media wing as “laughable"
3. Cuban official rules out reforms urged by Pope.
....A top government minister made clear that the sweeping economic changes under way in Cuba would not be accompanied by political reforms that Pope Benedict XVI had urged.
a. Pope calls for 'authentic freedom' in Cuba.
....Ending a three-day visit to Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI called for “the exercise of authentic freedom” in what is consistently ranked as one of the most repressive nations on earth.
4. After killings in France, Muslims fear a culture of diversity is at risk.
....Long known as a place of welcome, Toulouse may see lasting tensions after the killings by Mohamed Merah, a professed jihadi.
a. Gas Leak on offshore platform forces evacuation in North Sea.
....French oil company Total said that the situation was “stable” but that it was still examining how to stop the gas leak. Ships and aircraft were ordered to stay away because of the risk of explosion. The leak developed as workers tried to cap a well 150 miles east of Scotland.
5. India tightens New Delhi's Tibetan districts on eve of summit.
....With Chinese Pres. Hu Jintao arriving for a diplomatic summit meeting, Indian authorities sought to prevent Tibetans from staging anti-China protests.
6. Iranian official cites April 13 as date for nuclear talks.
....Comments by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi represented one more step in a diplomatic minuet playing out against a backdrop of speculation about a possible military strike by Israel.
7. 2 Israeli leaders make the Iran issue their own.

....Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have formed an unexpected bond on the matter of Iran's threat and in considering what must be done about it.
a. Israel group adds a softer voice to debate on Iran.
....Outnumbered by the hawkish and better-known American Israel Public Affairs Committee, some 700 members of J Street reminded their Congress members that the Jewish vote is not monolithic.
b. Kadina Party in Israel replaces Livimi as leader.
....Tzipi Livni lost the leadership of her centrist Kadima Party by a large margin to an archrival, according to results of the primary election.
8. Malaysian mosque is also a methadone clinic.
....Doctors in Malaysia have succeeded in getting the religious authorities on board in what the World Health Organization says is the world’s first methadone program operating out of a mosque.
9. North Korea reaffirms plan to launch satellite.
....North Korea said that it would press ahead with a plan to launch a satellite next month, rebuffing world leaders who threatened sanctions over the plan.
10. US and Pakistan take steps to mend relations.
....Pres. Obama and the Pakistani prime minister met briefly in Seoul, in the highest level contact between the two countries since November.
11. Polish ex-official charged with aiding CIA.
....The former head of Poland's intelligence service has been charged with aiding the CIA in setting up a secret prison to detain suspected members of Al Qaida.\
12. Assad accepts cease-fire; opponents are skeptical.

....The acceptance by Pres. Assad of Syria of a UN envoy's cease-fire proposal belied a new outbreak of bloodlettin.g on the Syria-Lebanon border.
13. Asylum claims rose 20% last year, UN refugee agency says.
....The agency’s annual report attributed the increase to new uprisings in the Middle East and Africa, combined with a rising tide of people fleeing chronic conflicts like those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

US News Capsules:
1. Brace yourself for split decision on mandate.

....In the final day of arguments on 2010 law, justices wrestle with what happens to the law without the provision that requires uninsured to buy insurance.
a. In Massadhusetts, insurance mandate stirs some dissent.

....As the Supreme Court hears arguments on the requirement that most Americans be insured or pay a penalty, Massachusetts offers an example of how such a mandate might work.
b. Contingency plans are few if Court strikes down insurance requirement.
....On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will examine how much of the 2010 health care law might survive if the justices strike down the requirement that Americans buy insurance.
c. On street, crowd gives louder side of health law argument.
....Shouts and chants for and against the Affordable Care Act turned the block between the steps of the Supreme Court and First Street into a cross section of American politics.
2. SAT and ACT to tighten rules after cheating scandal
....Stung by cases of cheating among Long Island high school students, the college entrance exams will now require students to upload photos when they register.
3. Iraqi immigrants in California town fear a hate crime in a woman's killing.
....Iraqi immigrants in El Cajon, Calif., say the death of Shaima Alawadi, 32, has exposed long-simmering cultural tensions and distrust.
4. Knowing cost, the customer sets the price.
....As power shifts to consumers, propelled by the Internet and apps, many stores are scrambling to move beyond the time-worn cycle of markups and discounts - and still make money,
5. FDA approves new anemia drug.
....The Food and Drug Administration approved a new anemia drug called Omontys for dialysis patients, which will end Amgen's 24-year monopoly led by its Epogen drug.
6. Group led by Magic Johnson wins auction to buy Dodgers for 2.15 billion.
....A group headed by Magic Johnson and financed largely by Guggenheim Partners was named the winning bidder of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
7. TV: This year, it's 'Idol" chasing the Voice.
....American Idol and The Voice seem to have switched philosophies in choosing finalists this year.
8. Justices rule against pilot in privacy case.
....The court found that Congress had not allowed compensation for mental anguish when violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 inflicted no actual damage, like a loss of income.
9. Language deemed offensive is removed from FBI training manual.
....The passages suggesting that agents could bend the law was contained in 876 pages of training materials about Muslims and Arab-Americans.
10. US judge in Michigan acquits militia members of sedition.
....A federal judge said the government could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that members of the Hutaree militia were taking concrete steps to use force against the United States.
11. For new generation of power plants, a new emission rule from the EPA.
....The new rules on how much carbon dioxide power plants can give off come as market forces are moving the industry from coal to natural gas.
POLITICS:
1. Florida's new election law blunts voter drives.
....New restrictions have led groups like Rock the Vote and the League of Women Voters to curb their efforts.
2. With bank teetering, a bet on the GOP backfires.

....Big business groups helped Republicans win the House in 2010, but the Export-Import Bank, which finances business exports, is in the cross hairs of the conservative representatives. Without Export-Import Bank financing, business owners like David Ickert, vice president of finance at Air Tractor in Texas, could find themselves struggling to complete contracts with overseas buyers.
3. Strength and weakness in the campaign of Ron Paul.
....Not even Rep. Ron Paul can entirely explain why the passion he generated in the Republican primary season did not translate into more votes.
4. [u.Final approval by House sends jobs bill to Prs. Obama for signature][/u].
....The package of measures is an effort to ease access to capital and investments for entrepreneurs and to hasten a labor market recovery.
5. Re[resemtatove bppted frp, Jpise fpr wearomg jppdoe.

....A congressman was removed from the House floor today after giving a speech about Trayvon Martin while wearing a hoodie.

Thought for Today
"You cannot find peace by avoiding life."
—-[/i]Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English author.

Today's flower: Stokesia laevis or Stokes' blue aster



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Baseball Pitchers Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 89th day of 2012 with 276 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:17 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 37ºF [Feels like 31ºF], winds NW @ 8 mph, humidity 86%, pressure 29.99 in and steady, dew point 33ºF, chance of precipitation 30%.

World News Capsules:
1. NATO convoy hit by major attack in Afghanistan.
....A NATO supply convoy came under heavy attack by Taliban insurgents in western Afghanistan, with 37 dead reported in the firefight and NATO air strikes that ensued, Afghan officials said.
a. Moral 'crimes' land Afghan women in jail.
....Human Rights Watch called for the government to release about 400 women and girls imprisoned for so-called moral crimes.
2. For group of 5 nations, acronym is easy, but common ground is hard.
....The group known as BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - has had difficulty finding common ground on how to exert collective geopolitical influence since forming three years ago.
3. Billionaire brothers arrested in Hong Kong corruption inquiry.
....An anti-corruption regulator said it had arrested Raymond and Thomas Kwok, who run the biggest real estate company in the city, accusing them of suspected corruption.
4. In Congo, self-defense can offer its own risk.
....At the very least, relief officials say, self-defense militias have worsened an already grave humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries.
5. Pope calls for 'authentic freedom' in Cuba.
....Ending a three-day visit to Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI called for "the exercise of authentic freedom" in one of the world's most authoritarian nations.
6. In Ethiopia, fossil foot indicates new prehuman species.
....3.4-million-year-old bones appear to settle the question of whether Australopithecus afarensis was the only line of hominins, or prehumans, living then,
7. In Europe, the World Bank presidency draws competition
.

....Two candidates from developing nations , José Antonio Ocampo, the former Colombian finance minister, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the current Nigerian finance minister,,are challenging the American nominee, in a move that reflects the fast-growing clout of emerging economies.
a. 2 studies point to pesticide as a culprit in bees' decline.

...Experiments in Britain and France found that colonies of bumblebees and honeybees were harmed by common pesticides in a class known as neonicotinoids.
8. Personal angst powered killer's arsenal in France.
....Early investigations suggest that Mohammed Merah's personal angst was at least as important to his evolution into a self-styled jihadist as any terrorist network that might have been available to him..
9. Hard line on Iran places White House in a bind.
....The White House is trying to convince Iran that it is serious about military action without leaving a sense that war is inevitable.
10. Arab leaders gather for meeting in Baghdad.
....Arab League leaders arrived in Baghdad for a meeting billed as a show of unity but underscoring divisions among Arab nations about the bloody crisis in Syria.
11. Japan admits nuclear plant still poses dangers.
....The damage to the core of at least one of the meltdown-stricken reactors at Fukushima could be far worse than previously thought.
12. Brutality jolts Russia into action on police.
....A death in custody in Tatarstan, a republic known for tolerance, has prompted the federal government to investigate other reports of abuse there.
13. Spanish trade unions start general strike.
....A strike called to protest a recent overhaul of labor rules disrupted heavy industry and large parts of Spain’s transportation network.
14. Clashes raise global worries over Sudan and South Sudan.
....A European Union warning of “a dangerous escalation” of border tensions was the latest international statement expressing fears of a renewed conflict.
15. Neighbors said to be at violent odds is Syrian crackdown.

....Refugees who have fled to Lebanon offered a rare firsthand account of the unfolding tumult in western Syria as an intensive bombardment of communities continues.
a. Diplomatic moves increase pressure on Assad.
....Analysts suggested that Pres. Assad of Syria was following a strategy used to great effect by Iran: pledging sincerity to diplomacy as a way to stall for time.

US News Capsules:
1. Tense lull and legislative limbo as nation waits for high court to rule on 'Obamacare.

....With three days of Supreme Court oral argument in the challenges to the 2010 health care law now over, a tense lull has settled over Washington. Health care reform “cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year,” President Barack Obama said on Feb. 23, 2009. But Obama and everyone else must wait at least several more weeks to learn the fate of the health care overhaul he signed into law in 2010.
a. Justices weigh what-ifs of health ruling.
....The Supreme Court considered several possible approaches if the individual mandate is removed from the law and also examined an expansion of Medicaid.
b. Few minds are changed by arguments in court.
....Three days of debate over the health care overhaul seemed to reinforce what many Americans believed about it, but with an extra dose of repulsion or delight.
2. Weather runs hot and cold, so scientists look to the ice.
....Amid seesawing temperatures, suspicion is focused on the decline of sea ice in the Arctic, believed to be a consequence of the human release of greenhouse gases.
3. Facelift project for Hollywood stirs divisions.
....A rezoning plan that would turn parts of Hollywood into a mini-city has won the support of key Los Angeles officials and set off a storm of opposition from residents.
4. Fracas on JetBlue flight shows gap in screening.

....After a captain acted erratically on a flight, some pilots said annual medical exams were not thorough and did not typically include psychological evaluations.
5. A poet of unswerving vision at the forefront of feminism.

....Adrienne Rich, 1929-2012,one of the most influential and widely read writers of the feminist movement, took on sexism and racial oppression in her poems and prose, died Tuesday at age 82 at home in Santa Cruz, Calif.
6. REALITY TV: Silent partners no longer.
....The women of VH1 reality-TV show Mob Wives, have violated the mafia's code of silence to offer a glimpse into what is euphemistically called "the lifestyle."
7. Some like it hotter.

....For many religious exercisers, only sweltering temperatures produce adequate workouts, so gyms are trying to lure them with ever hotter, harder classes.
8. $7 billion public-private plan in Chicago aims to fix transit, schools and parks.

....Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that instead of waiting on federal financing, the city would form public-private partnerships to handle projects to transform the city’s infrastructure.
9. For Skittles, death brings both profit and risk.
....Many people are buying Skittles, the candy Trayvon Martin was carrying when he was killed, to commemorate his death, putting the company that makes them in a delicate position.
POLITICS:
1. Business bets on the GOP may be backfiring.
....Big business groups spent millions to help Republicans win control of the House in 2010, but the return has not always met expectations.
2. Mr. health care mandate.
....Jonathan Gruber, a professor at M.I.T., helped persuade the Obama administration that everyone should be required to get health insurance.
3. Congress extends highway funding with stopgap bill.
....With lawmakers unable to agree on a broader transportation measure, a 90-day extension averted a halt in financing for road and infrastructure projects.
4. Romney delicate in challenging Obama's foreign policy.

....Mitt Romney has made a point of carefully picking the instances in which he challenges Pres. Obama's management of foreign policy, reflecting the delicacy the Republican faces in taking on a commander in chief whose foreign policy marks are relatively high.
5. House passes GOP budget; plan has no chance in Senate.

....The Republican-controlled House passed the leadership's 2013 budget plan, which creates a clear contrast between the two parties ahead of the general election,

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."
—-William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894), American theologian

Today's flower: Scabiosa caucasica or Isaac House scabiosa

[pegasus]

Frozen Food Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 90th day of 2012 with 275 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 6:02 p.m., it's fair , temp 44ºF [Feels like 44ºF], winds NE @ 6 mph, humidity 42%, pressure 29.95 in and falling, dew point 22ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

World News Capsules:
1. As troops exit Afghanistan, businesses say they may, too.

....The business leaders that Afghanistan needs to succeed after allied forces withdraw their troops in 2014 are already making moves to leave the country.
a. Militia member drugs and kills Afghan colleagues.
....A member of an Afghan militia promoted by the US military to protect rural villages drugged his colleagues and killed at least nine of them as they slept, the police chief of Paktika said.
b. 2nd Afghan insurgent group suspends peace talks.
....The group Hezb-i-Islami in effect said that neither the Afghan nor the American government seemed ready to make the compromises needed to end the insurgency.
2. Electronic giant vowing reforms in China plants.
....Responding to a critical investigation of its factories, Foxconn, a top electronics supplier for Apple and other companies, pledged to curtail working hours and increase wages.
a. Case based in China puts a face on persistent hacking.
....A breach of computers belonging to companies in Japan and India and to Tibetan activists has been linked to a former student at a Chinese university.
b. China's hierarch strives to regain unity after Chongqing leader's ouster.
....For weeks, there has been frenzied politicking at the top of the Communist Party as it attempts to seal rifts in its leadership.
c. In rural China, temples to past merchant wealth endure.

....Lavish villas built by merchants still endure across the Huizhou region of China, which was once synonymous with entrepreneurialism. Now tourism companies are trying to preserve them.
3. In Europe, Starbucks adjusts to a cafe culture.

....The coffeehouse chain is embarking on a multimillion-dollar campaign to win over Europe’s coffee aficionados with an upscale makeover of hundreds of stores.
a. Europe agrees to bailout fund for euro of over $1 trillion.
....Finance ministers from the European countries that use the currency hope the new fund will show their determination to end the two-year-old euro crisis.
4. Toulouse killer's path to radicalization a bitter puzzle.
....Early investigations - and the impressions of many - suggest that Mohammed Merah's personal angst was at least as important to his evolution into a jihadist as any terrorist network.
a. French police seize 17 in raids following killings in Toulouse

....Elite units conducted raids in several areas, arresting 17 people described as Islamic militants.
5. Tibetan exiles march for one of their own who died in flames

....Hundreds of people marched in mourning in Dharamsala, India, for a Tibetan exile who set himself on fire this week during a protest in New Delhi.
6. Obama to clear way to tighten Iranian oil sanctions.
....Pres. Obama has determined there is enough oil in world markets to allow countries to rely less on Iran’s oil imports, a step that could allow increased sanctions against Iran.
a. Iran suspends Reuters over faulty headline.
....The erroneous title on a Reuters video, saying that female ninjas in Iran were being trained as assassins, resulted in the government’s suspending the news agency’s staff there.
7. Little talk of tough issues at Arab League meeting i Iraq.
....Arab leaders in Baghdad offered platitudes about democracy and reform, but did not address the unrest that has swept through their countries/.
8. Japan orders interception of North Korean rocket if it poses threat.
....Ahead of a planned launch of a long-range rocket next month, North Korea was said to have fired several short-range missile off its west coast earlier this week
9. Mexico's elections begin.

....Mexico's presidential campaign began at midnight with a campaign rally for the leading contender, Enrique Peña Nieto.
10. US and China joust for influence in Myanmar.
....As strategically placed Myanmar loosens the grip of dictatorship, each side is doing whatever it can to gain the country’s favor.
a. Symbolic vote in Myanmar draws near.
....The leader of the democracy movement, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, emerged from a week of convalescence, saying that that the vote would be a modest step toward democracy.
11. On the run, Bin Laden had 4 children and 5 houses, a wife says.
....Testimony to Pakistani investigators by Osama Bin Laden's youngest wife offered the most detailed account yet of the family's life on the run preceding the raid in May 2011 that killed the al-Qaida leader.
12. Palestinians protest land seizure and control of Jerusalem.
....Palestinians protested against Israeli policies of land seizure and control of Jerusalem, leading to clashes with Israeli troops that left one dead and scores injured.
13. US envoy to Russia accuses TV station of hacking.
....Ambassador Michael A. McFaul confronted a camera crew from a state-controlled television station and suggested that they had accessed his schedule by hacking his e-mail or telephone.
14. Clinton, in Saudi Arabia, explores Syria crisis.
....US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to work out a unified strategy on the crisis in Syria in talks with Saudi officials as violence continued in the north of Syria.
15. Syrian fighting flares ahead of talks.
....Fierce fighting continued in Syria’s north and center two days before the so-called Friends of Syria coalition was set to meet in Istanbul in an effort to end the crisis.
16. Outraged by fatal assault on young woman, Ukrainians force an investigation.
....After a woman was raped and set on fire, public protests and interventions from the president and prime minister led to two suspects being re-arrested.

US News Capsules:
1. 2-year college, squeezed, sets 2-tier tuition.
....Santa Monica College, in California, will offer some courses for a higher price, so that students who are eager to get into a particular class can do so if they pay more.
2. Pasadena police arrest 911 caller after unarmed suspect is killed.
....Oscar Carrillo was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after he told a 911 dispatcher that 19-year-old Kendrec McDade, whom police fatally shot, was armed,
3. MOVIES: In Hollywood, an '80s moment.
....At a time of plunging DVD sales and an up-and-down box office, Hollywood is doubling back on past hits, like Dirty Dancing, and stars like Bette Midler and Arnold Schwarzenegger,
a. Behind every harassed child? A whole lot of clueless adults.

....Lee Hirsch's documentary Bully arrives at a moment when bullying is being redefined as a social problem.
b. Inside the 3-D convesion of Titanic[/u].

....Using a frame from Titanic, James Cameron explains elements of the work that went into converting the film to 3-D.
c. A brawler with a soft side.
....In Goon,”Seann William Scott plays a hockey enforcer in a minor-league team, a raging beast when dispatched onto the ice, but a shy, courtly lug outside the rink.
d. Fisherman off to a mission in the underworld.
....In Wrath of the Titans, equel to the 2010 Clash of the Titans remake, Zeus asks his demigod son for help, as the battle for supremacy between the gods and the Titans goes on
e. Who's the most self-absobed of them all?

....The Snow White character in Mirror Mirror deviates only a bit from the heroine of the classic tale. This time Lily Collins is armed and suited for action.
1) The better to entertain you with, my dear.

....The screen comedy Mirror Mirror reflects Hollywood’s preoccupation with fairy tales, as do the TV series Grimm and Once Upon a Time.
f. How the West was filled with loss.
....John Ford’s Fort Apache (1948), one of the great achievements of American cinema, has been released in a magnificent Blu-ray edition by Warner Home Video.
4. Three major US banks prepare for possible credit downgrades.
....Moody's Investors Service will decide on banks' credit ratings in mid-May, and Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup could be cut to a level just two notches above speculative grade.
5. The brightest of creataures.
....The American Museum of Natural History is opening an exhibition, "Creatures of Light," that looks at the strange world of bioluminesence.
6. MasterCard and Visa look into ossibledata attack.
....A breach at a third-party vendor may have exposed cardholders’ personal information.
7. In health case, appeals to a justice's idea of libery.

....In making their arguments to the Supreme Court about the health law, advocates tried to win over Justice Anthony M. Kennedy by invoking one of his most valued principles: liberty.
8. Netting tiny eels and big profits.
....With Asian demand for elver eels especially high — last year’s tsunami curbed supply in Japan, and Europe has cracked down on exporting eels — a gold rush of sorts is on in Maine.
POLITICS:
1. House passes GOP budget plan, mostly along party lines
.
....A fierce two-day debate over a Republican budget plan portrayed as either a path to prosperity or a road to ruin ended.
2. Recall election for Wisconsin governor who battled unions
.
....Election officials said critics of Gov. Scott Walker had collected enough signatures for a recall election to be held in May.
3. Romney supporters yearning for the personal side.
....On the campaign trail, voters often speak frankly of their desire for Mitt Romney to make more of a human connection with them.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Mega Millions prize hits $640 million - and could go higher.

....Record-shattering jackpot goes up again; hopeful future millionaires form long lines at stores across the 42 states, plus Washington, D.C. with the drawing for the fortune set for late Friday in Atlanta. Players pay $1 for a ticket and must pick five numbers from 1 to 56 plus a Mega number from 1 to 46 to win the jackpot. Ticket sales in California are expected to hit $333 million, with $189 million in New York and $94 million in Texas. In all, the lottery is expected to generate sales of $1.4 billion for this drawing. Based on U.S. averages, you're about 8,000 times more likely to be murdered than win the lottery and 20,000 times more likely to die in a vehicle crash. The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won was $390 million in March 2007, when the prize was split between two tickets sold in Georgia and New Jersey. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million won in 2006 on one ticket held by eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant.
What to buy when you win the $640 million Mega Millions.

If you're lucky enough to beat the 1-in-176 million odds and win, the bad news is you won’t be able to take home that full amount. That's because lottery officials will withhold 25% for federal gaming taxes, according to Arlen Harris of the Washington's Lottery, which participates in the Mega Millions. Still, you should be pretty well set for life.
While you still might be on the hook for state taxes, you would have the kind of money to afford multiple homes, travel by private jet and take up a fancy hobby like collecting fine wine or antique cars, said Bruce Wallin, editorial director of the luxury goods magazine Robb Report."That kind of money affords the ability to pursue your passions to the kind of extreme that a lot of us dream of," he said.
If you are ready to buy, here are some items to consider for your shopping list.

• Your own island - but rent first before buying.
  
• Your own ranch
  
• A jet - take some advice from the other 1 percenters. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns NetJets, which provides fractional ownership of jets and saves you the hassle of having to buy a whole jet all on your own, for %119,000 a year.
  
• Your dream car - the Porsche 918 Spyder, a plug-in gas-electric hybrid, costing $845,000.
  
• A sports team or a medium-sized company.
  

Personally, I'd get a financial planner and set up my family for the forseeable future, meaning generations to come. My oldest son has always had the dream of owning is own golf course - done. All debts paid off. My grandsons are starting to leave home for college in the coming years - trust funds to pay all college expenses with a generous living allowance. And I would buy myself a mnor league baseball team. I would give away funds to local charities - Mercy Flight, Food Bank, Salvation Army, Veteran's Memorial Cemetery, Lollipop Farm (Humane Society of Greater Rochester), are just a few.
What would you do if you won - go on a mammoth spendnig spree, buy a few big items but save most of it, not change my present lifestyle much, give most of it to family and charities.

Thought for Today
"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well."
—-[/i]Rene Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher

Today's flower: Paeonia or 'Kansas' peony



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Bunsen Burner Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 91st day of 2012 with 274 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 1:41 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 37ºF [Feels like 33ºF], winds variable @ 5 mph, humidity 93%, pressure 29.90 in and steady, dew point 35ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

World News Capsules:
1. Militia member drugs and kills Afghan colleagues.
....A member of an Afghan militia promoted by the US military to protect rural villages drugged his colleagues and killed at least nine of them as they slept, the police chief of Paktika said.
2. Chinese company and employee deny any involvement in hacking attacks.
....After being accused of attacks across several countries, Tencent, a Chinese Internet company, and one of its employees suggested that his identity may have been confused with someone else's.
3. Disabled Britons say changes to aid endanger them.
....Prime Minister David Cameron's new get-tough policy has left his coalition government in conflict with thousands of ill and disabled Britons.
4. Pressed on all sides, leader of coup in Mali digs in.
...Mali's new Constitution makes Amadou Haya Sanogo the supreme boss and wipes out Parliament, and the opposition is being harassed. Yet nothing is settled.

US News Capsules:
1. NAACP leads massive Trayvon Matin march to police station.
....Activists in Sanford, Fla.: "We want an arrest. Shot in the chest."
2. Three winners from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland share record Mega Millions jackpot.

....If three's a crowd, it'll be a very rich one indeed. Three lottery tickets sold in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland hit the world record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said Saturday. Illinois' winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis and used a quick pick to select the numbers. Kansas and Maryland law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous. Each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes.
3, Fighting a drawn-out battle against solitary confinement,
....California is proposing changes in its efforts against gang violence that could decrease the use of long-term segregation.
4. Warned of an attack on the internet, and getting ready.
....The largely unseen forces that keep the Internet running have fortified crucial parts of it after learning of plans for an attack by Anonymous on the Domain Name System.
5. A health law at risk gives insurers pause.
....Policy experts and others are weighing the repercussions of the Supreme Court possibly striking down the entire health care law passed in 2010.
6. Another feast for the jilted bride.

....The next Masterpiece Classic entry on PBS, Great Expectations, is a BBC production starring Gillian Anderson, as Miss Havisham, and Ray Winstone, as Magwitch
7. Two families tangle over diamonds.
....The fate of the Aurora Pyramid of Hope, a rare collection of 295 naturally colored diamonds that has been exhibited in prestigious museums, is being decided in Surrogate's Court in the Bronx.
8. Uranium mines dot Navajo land, neglected and still perilous.

....Scientists and Indian advocates question why the government is not acting more quickly on a cleanup.
9. .


Today's Headlines of Interest:

Ghostly image of the Titanic



Thought for Today
"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?"
—-[/u]Rene Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher

Today's flower: [/i]Paeonia lactiflora Duchess de Nemours or white peony



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

PALM SUNDAY

Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 92nd day of 2012 with 273 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:56 p.m., it's rain , temp 37ºF [Feels like 34ºF], winds NE @ 5 mph, humidity 90%, pressure 29.69 in and falling, dew point 37ºF, chance of precipitation 90%.

World News Capsules:
1. Good deeds in Afghanistan interrupt the grim narrative.
....The story of Specialist Dennis Weichel, killed while rescuing an Afghan child, could easily be a counterpoint to the gruesome account of the American soldier charged with 17 counts of murder.
2. In Brazil cyclist's death, a clash between wealth and life on the fringes.

....The death of a cyclist in a car accident involving Thor Batista, the 20-year-old son of Brazil’s richest man, has awakened a debate over wealth, influence and traffic deaths.
3. Islamist group breaks pledge to stay out of race in Egypt


....The Muslim Brotherhood nominated its chief strategist and financier Khairat el-Shater to become Egypt's first president since Hosni Mubarak.
4. In rich Europe, more join ranks of working poor.
....A growing slice of the population is slipping through Europe’s long-vaunted social safety net.
5. Fighting terrorism, French style.
....The differences between the methods of France and the US for fighting terrorism are considerable.
6. Global failures on a Haitian epidemic.
....The world rallied to confront Haiti's cholera, but the mission was muddled by the UN' apparent role in setting off the epidemic and its unwillingness to acknowledge it.
7. Industry in India helps open a door to the world.
....A trade foray into Pakistan is evidence of the foreign policy role of India's private sector, which the government relies on to serve as an intermediary abroad.
8. Iraq casts a pall over CIA effort to fathom Iran.
....Faulty intelligence conclusions about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction have cast a shadow over current efforts to evaluate Iran's nuclear capabilities.
a. Iraq's fugitive vice president travels to Qatar.

....Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi’s office said he was in Qatar on a diplomatic visit, but the news angered officials in Baghdad, who said he was not authorized to leave Iraq.
9. Junta leader to Mali coup vows to keep fighting brief; resotres constitution.

....Heavy weapons fire broke out as Tuareg and Islamist rebels entered Gao, the main city of northeast Mali still under army control, local officials and witnesses said.
9. A wary Mexico sizes up contenders for the presidency.
....Still recovering from decades of single-party rule and facing many challenges, Mexico has scant faith that any of the candidates will confront its problems.
10. Suu Kyi wins parliament seat in historic Myanmar election.

....Many here were putting their faith – and vote – behind Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and pro-democracy leader running for a seat in Myanmar’s parliament.
11. Protesters scuffle with forces.
....Thousands of Palestinians protested on Friday against Israeli policies of land seizure and control of Jerusalem, leading to clashes with Israeli troops in which a 20-year-old was killed and scores of others were injured.
12. At meeting, nations move to expand aid for Syrian rebels.

....Offers of money and communications equipment reflected a growing consensus that mediation efforts were failing to halt Syria’s violence and more forceful action was needed.
a. Syria won't pull out of rebel centers.
....The US and six Arab countries called for setting a specific deadline for Syria to halt the violence against the opposition.
13. United Arab Emirates shutters US-backed group.
....On the eve of a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the UAE announced that it had shut down an organization that promotes democracy.

US News Capsules:
1. New college grads see a job market that's improving.

....More robust campus hiring is just one of several signs that a recovery in the U.S. jobs market is gaining traction with hiring back in a big way on many campuses.
2. Many US cities see warmest March on record.

....In states from Colorado to Florida, at least 41 cities saw their warmest March on record, weather.com reported with a few cities in states as far west as Colorado and Wyoming seeing records but the vast majority were in the central U.S. and the South. Large cities on the list include Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Washington D.C.
3. Two audio experts on Trayvon 911 calls: Cries for help are not Zimmerman's.

.... The voice heard crying for help on a 911 call just before Trayvon Martin was shot to death was not that of George Zimmerman, according to two forensic voice identification experts, one of whom told MSNBC on Sunday that he believes the evidence is strong enough to use in court.
4. Police are using phone tracking as a routine tool.

....Law enforcement tracking of cellphones is a convenient surveillance tool in many situations, but it is unclear if using such technology without a warrant violates the Constitution.
5. Less visible Occupy movement looks for staying power.
....Occupy needs to find new ways to gain attention or it will likely fade to the edges of the political discourse, supporters and critics said.
6. Brighter skies and a flying car too.
....With North American auto sales up significantly in the first quarter, there will be renewed optimism evident among automakers at this year's New York auto show.
7. Experts recommend single registry to oversee kidney transplant donations.
....Leaders of a conference in Herndon, Va., say that one registry should oversee the complex matching process needed to expand the use of kidney transplant chains and other forms of paired donation.
8. Fed may fine firms not part of foreclosure deeal.
....Federal regulators are poised to crack down on eight financial firms over practices involving sloppy, inaccurate or forged documents.
POLITICS:
1. In Wisconsin, Romney nears the tipping point.

....If he wins the Wisconsin primary, Mitt Romney could take firm control of the Republican presidential nominating contest for the first time.
a. Romney stays optimistic before Tuesday votes.
....While his rivals remain consistently defiant, they're doing little to hamper Mitt Romney's momentum ahead of nominating contests.
2. Rep. Paul Ryan: 'I really misspoke.'
....House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said Sunday he misspoke earlier in the week when he accused military officials of not being honest about the Pentagon budget.Tthe Wisconsin congressman said senior military leaders had been misleading when they defended a decrease in Pentagon spending proposals. He argued that the generals were not “giving us their true advice” and accused them of toeing an administration line.

Sport's Headlines :
1. NCAABK: Kansas tops Ohio State 64-62 in tense stretch run.
.....The Jayhawks trailed for most of the game, but a late rally and tough defense in the game's final minutes earned them their second appearance in the championship game in five years.
a. Wildcats ae winners 69-61 in battle for Kentucky.
....With a dominant performance from freshman Anthony Davis, top-ranked Kentucky defeated in-state rival Louisville to advance to the national title game.
b. The fire and the glow.
....Candid and intensely driven, Kim Mulkey, whose Baylor team plays Stanford Sunday, is the only woman to win an N.C.A.A. basketball championship as a player, as an assistant and as a head coach.
1) 40-0 in sight, Baylor turns focus to Stanford.
....No one has done what Baylor is two games from accomplishing: finishing perfect and winning an N.C.A.A.-record 40 games.
2. NBA: Knicks' push for playoffs will co on without Lin.
/img]
....Shortly before the Knicks' 91-75 victory over Cleveland, the team announced that Jeremy Lin's knee injury would require surgery, sidelining him for the rest of the regular season.
3. NHL: Regular season supremacy not enough for NY Rangers.
....The Rangers can clinch the Eastern Conference title and the top playoff seed Sunday with a Pittsburgh loss to Philadelphia and a win against the visiting Bruins.
a. Long, cold summer for Maple Leafs and Canadens.
....Montreal could be the first Canadian team to finish in last place since 1940, and Toronto will extend its Stanley Cup drought to 48 years.

Thought for Today
"Life is short. Live it up."
-- Nikita S. Khrushchev (1894-1971), Soviet leader.

Today's flower: Paeonia lactiflora Mons Jules Elie or pink peony.

[pegasus]

ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 93rd day of 2012 with 272 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 3:45 p.m., it's fair , temp 48ºF [Feels like 48ºF], winds NW @ 9 mph, humidity 33%, pressure 29.94 in and falling, dew point 20ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

World News Capsules:
1. China sees US as competitor and declining power, insider says.
.....Wang Jisi, an influential Chinese policy analyst, writes that China believes Washington is trying to undermine its economic and military growth.
a. Billionaire linked to toppled Chinese official is said to be under investigation.
....The founder and chairman of the Dalian Shide Group failed to appear as scheduled at the Bo’ao Forum for Asia, an annual gathering of leaders from business, government and academia.
2. In hard liner's surge, new worries for Brotherhood.
....Hazem Salah Abu Ismail's old-school Islamism conflicts with the pragmatic politics of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is fielding its own Egyptian presidential candidate.
3. Ranks of working poor grow in Europe.
....A growing slice of the population is slipping through Europe’s long-vaunted social safety net.
4. Britons protest government eavesdropping plans.
....Reported government plans to give intelligence services the ability to monitor the electronic communications of every person in the country drew fire on Monday.
5. Hungarian president resigns amid plagiarism scandal.

....Pal Schmitt resigned from his largely ceremonial post amid a storm of criticism over what he called “unfounded allegations” of plagiarism in his 1992 doctoral thesis.
6. Israel frees Palestinian detainee after hunger strike of weeks.
....Hana Shalabi, 30, went more than 40 days without eating to protest her administrative detention, a practice of being held without charge or trial.
7. Rebels take Timbuktu in Mali.
....Tuareg rebels overran the ancient desert crossroads of Timbuktu over the weekend, solidifying the rebels’ control of the northern half of the troubled West African nation.
8. /Myanmar opposition appears to sweep vote.
....The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy advocate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi assumed a new role in her country's political transition. She is one of 43 candidates from the party believed to have won a seat in Parliament and spoke of the "beginningg of a new era."
9. Pakistan court orders deportation of Bin Laden's wives.
....A Pakistani court has ordered three wives and two adult daughters of Osama Bin Laden to serve six weeks in prison for illegally entering the country and ordered their deportation after the prison term.
10. Russian plane crash kills 31 people.
....A deadly plane crash in Siberia early on Monday was the latest in a string of accidents that has eroded confidence in Russia’s commitment to air safety.
a. A real-life 'towering inferno' in Moscow.

....Firefighters and firefighting helicopters struggled to put out a massive blaze atop an under-construction skyscraper in Moscow. 11. US joins effort to equip and pay rebels in Syria.
....The US and dozens of other countries, meeting in Istanbul, moved closer to direct intervention in the Syrian conflict.
a. Syria agrees to cease-fire on April 10, Annan says.

....Syria’s government has promised that its armed forces would stop shooting and withdraw from population centers by early April, Kofi Annan told the United Nations Security Council.
12. Jailed Ukrainian opposition leader is cleared for treatment.
....Yulia V. Tymoshenko can receive medical treatment outside the prison camp where she has been incarcerated since December, a step that may aim to quiet Western criticism of her treatment.

US News Capsules:
1. Public worker pensions find riskier funds fail to pay off.
....Pension funds that have increased expensive investments in private equity, real estate and hedge funds have been outperformed by stocks and bonds in the last five years.
2. Race, tragedy and outrage collide after a shot in Florida.

....The encounter between Trayvon Martin, a black youth who wanted to go to college, and George Zimmerman, a Hispanic man who wanted to be a judge, has polarized the nation.
3. Nobody minds dyeing the egg, but the chicken is another story.
.....Farmers and other poultry experts say coloring chicks is harmless, but animal rights activists say it turns live birds into holiday playthings that are quickly discarded
4. To enroll more minority students, colleges work around the courts.
....History shows that when courts or new laws restrict affirmative action, colleges try to find other ways to increase minority admissions.
5. Too many small fish are caught, report says.
....Populations of aquatic life collapsed because of overfishing of sardines and other small fish that are used to feed larger ones, according to a report.
6. After a data breach, Visa removes a service provider.
....Visa removed Global Payments, an Atlanta company that helps the payment giant process transactions for merchants, from its list of "compliant service providers.
7. Talk radio face-off approaches.
....Cumulus Media is giving radio stations new alternatives to Clear Channel, like a show from Mike Huckabee, making for a turbulent time in the radio business.
8. Encyclopedia Britannica's last print edition has a sales boom.
....Encyclopaedia Britannica[/img] will no longer be printed, which has caused a rush to buy the remaining sets in stock.
9. Investors are looking to buy homes by the 1000s.

....With house prices still down, some large investors are creating huge portfolios by buying thousands of homes at deep discounts and then renting them out.
10. Sources: 5 dead in Oakland University shooting.

....A suspect was detained Monday in a shooting attack at a small
Oakland Christian university that sources said has left at least five people dead.
11. Justices approve strip searches for an offense.
....The Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 that people arrested for any offense, however minor, may be forced to strip before being jailed even if no reasonable suspicion of contraband exists.
a. Justices' cerebral combativeness on display/
....While the health law hearings revealed justices’ intellectual side, they also showed their humor and confidence in taking on the most urgent issues of the day.
12. Washington is first state to take on excort sites.
....Even as Washington State’s governor last week signed into law a bill intended to stop child sex trafficking, its supporters wondered how effective it would be.
POLITICS:
1. For Santorum, hope that voters see message as pins go flying.
....Rick Santorum’s trips to the bowling alley appear to be part of a clear effort to drive home his working-class credentials.
2. A die-hard conservative, but not on immigrants.
....Mark L. Shurtleff, Utah’s Republican attorney general, opposes abortion and Obama’s health care law, but he championed a law that gives illegal immigrants state guest worker permits in Utah.

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little."
—-[/I]Agnes de Mille (1905-1993), American dancer-choreographer

Today's flower: Lilium or Commander-in-Chief Asiatic lily



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

CANCER AWARENESS MOTH
Good evening from Tuxy and me
This is the 94th day of 2012 with 271 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 7:31 p.m., it's mostly cloudy , temp 51ºF [Feels like 51ºF], winds ENE @ 6 mph, humidity 33%, pressure 29.86 in and falling, dew point 23ºF, chance of precipitation 20%.

World News Capsules:
1. How China steals our secrets.
....Foreign hackers are stealing America's corporate secrets, and Congress is doing nothing to stop them.
a. Solar energy inspiration from butterflies.
....Researchers in China have studied the shinglelike structure of butterfly wings, which they say are especially efficient in absorbing sunlight, and have built a prototype based on it.
b. China's Prime Minister says big banks should be broken up.

....The unusually bold remarks by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao appeared to be a challenge to others in the Communist Party leadership to speed up reforms of the financial system.
c. Chinese insider offers rare glimpse of US-China frictions.
....Wang Jisi, an influential policy analyst, writes that China believes it will supplant the United States as the world’s most powerful country.
2. 'Milestone' as Colombia's FARC - frees captives after over a decade.

....Colombia's FARC rebels freed 10 members of the armed forces held hostage in jungle prison camps for more than a decade, the last of a group the drug-funded group had used as bargaining chips to pressure the government. The four soldiers and six policemen were released to a humanitarian mission led by the International Committee of the Red Cross in what the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia called a gesture of peace.
3. James Murdoch steps down
....James Murdoch steps down as Chairman of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which is partly owned by the Murdoch family
a. Britons protest proposal to widen surveillance.
....Reported government plans to give intelligence services the ability to monitor the electronic communications of every person in the country drew fire.
b. Here come the sons: Will Beatles' kids form own band?

From left: Zak Starkey, Dhani Harrison, James McCartney, Sean Lennon)
....James McCartney has reached out to Sean Lennon, Dhani Harrison and Zak Starkey to create the next generation of The Beatles, the BBC reports. In an interview Monday, the 34-year-old musician, who’s released three EPs on his own, said embracing the legacy of the Fab Four has worked to his advantage so far, thus he wouldn’t be opposed to a reincarnation of the ensemble.
4. As riots boil over, these guards don't budge.
....Protests over Greece's austerity measures have happened yards away from the Presidential Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, complicating the soldiers' ceremonial work.
5. Half of Irish homeowners join boycott of new tax that has symbolized fiscal woes.
....Austerity foes claim a victory as about 50% of Ireland's estimated 1.6 million homeowners fail to pay a new $133 property tax by the deadline.
6. Netanyahu slows eviction of settlers from a house.
....Prime Minister BNetanyahu delayed a scheduled eviction to allow Jewish settlers from a house in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron time to argue their legal case for tenancy.
7. Libyan militias turn to politics, a volatile mix.
....Local brigades claim the mantle of guardians, but many civilians worry that they could bully voters, suppress votes or otherwise dominate elections.
8. Lawmakers recommend changes to Malaysian electoral system.
....The committee was set up last year by Prime Minister Najib Razak following a rally that brought tens of thousands of people into the streets calling for greater transparency and fairness in elections
9. General turned presideent begins a transformation in Myanmar.
....Pres. U Thein Sein of Myanmar said that the weekend’s by-elections were “conducted in a very successful way.
10. Push for the right to die grows in the Netherlands.
....Right to Die-NL has created mobile teams to help patients die at home, and is now calling for legislation to make euthanasia available to anyone over age 70, sick or not.
a. Law could hamper drug tourism in the Netherlands.
....The right-wing coalition government is pushing to prohibit the sale of marijuana to nonresidents, but some in the historically drug-tolerant nation fear that the move would alienate tourists.
11. Wamted by US for $10 million: Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan terror chief and mastermind of Mumbai attack.

....The US has offered a $10 million bounty for the founder of the Pakistani militant group blamed for the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people, a move that could complicate U.S.-Pakistan relations at a tense time.
12. Fire kills 17 in Moscow workers' dormitory.
....The building was cited for fire code violations a month ago, highlighting Russia’s problems with enforcing basic safety standards.
a. Mayoral elections give Russian opposition a boost.
....Political dark horses and ruling-party defectors have run up a string of electoral victories lately, exposing weaknesses in Vladimir V. Putin’s near monopoly on power.
13. Aa taste of hope in Mogadishu, Somalia.

....Somalia’s capital had been reduced to rubble over 21 years of civil war, but the city is making a remarkable comeback.
14. Swiss seek arrest of 3 German tax officials over stolen banking data.
....A deal for Switzerland to tax and fine secret German accounts appears in jeopardy amid continuing tensions over tax issues and a CD of stolen data German officials bought in 2010.
15. Syria agreess to troop withdrawal, Annan says.
....The rebels say they will wait for the government forces to stop shooting before they agree to the cease-fire brokered by Kofi Annan, a UN-appointed emissary.
a. Syrian leader accused of escalating attacks.
....Syria’s political opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad of escalating military assaults on four major urban centers


US News Capsules:
1. Police: California campus shooter targeted female administrator.

....One Goh, the former Oikos University student accused of killing seven people at the college's campus in Oakland, Calif., told authorities he was upset with being expelled and had sought out a female college official who was not present.
2. 'Horrific!': Experimental plane crashes into Florida grocery store.
....A small experimental plane crashed into a supermarket at a Florida shopping center Monday evening, injuring six people as fire shot through the roof and into the store, reports said.
3. 'Tremendous damage' as 3 tornadoes slam Dallas suburbs.

....Live video showed a huge tornado blasting through areas south of the city, throwing 18-wheel trailers like toys as power lines exploded in a shower of sparks.
4. White House and the FDA often at odds.
....Top officials with the Food and Drug Administration contend the agency's decisions should be divorced from politics and based solely on its own assessments of the science.
5. Where housing once boomed, recovery lags.
....The official statistics say that the national economy has been growing for almost three years, but there is scant evidence of renewed prosperity in places like Prince George's County, Md.
a. Investors are looking to buy homes by the thousands.
....With house prices still down, some large investors are creating huge portfolios by buying 1000s of homes at deep discounts and then renting them out.
6. Small banks shift charters to avoid US as regulator.
....An increasing number of the nation's savings and loan associations are avoiding some federal oversight by becoming credit unions or switching to a state charter
7. Hosts as as weapons in mornng-show duel.
....Morning TV shows always compete, but usually it's over guests, not hosts. Now contracts are up, change is in the air, and viewers have a front-row seat.
8. Giving women the access code.

....Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College in California, has helped reverse the vexing trend toward fewer women in computer science, and others are following.
9. Mind games, sometimes a white coat isn't just a white coat.
....What we wear can affect not only what people think of us, but also the way our brains work, a study involving a doctor's coat shows.
10. New estimate raises Civil War death toll.

....Extrapolating from new data, a historian suggests that about 20 percent more died than previously thought.
11. Longevity up in US, but education creates disparity, study says.
....The study used government data to rank each American county by health indicators like obesity and premature death, and considered factors like the presence of fast-food restaurants.
12. Noncitizens sue over US gay marriage ban.
....Five couples challenged the Defense of Marriage Act because their legal marriages do not qualify the immigrant spouse for a green card.
POLITICS:
1. Obama hits hard at GOP budget plan, embodies 'radical vision.'

....In what was billed a “big speech” by the White House, Pres. Obama hit hard at the budget put forward by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, calling the plan, backed by the Republican-controlled House, a “Trojan horse.”
2. Budget bill defeat is lesson in difficulty of compromise.
....If Congress is to defuse a budgetary time bomb, the forces of conciliation will have to become far more organized than the bipartisan opposition.

Thought for Today
"I didn't invent the world I write about — it's all true."
—-[/i]Graham Greene (1904-1991), British author

Today's flower: Lilium 'Mango' or Mango Asiatic lily



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Hungarian Liberation Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 95 day of 2012 with 270 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:29 p.m., it's fair , temp 49ºF [Feels like 49ºF], winds W @ 10 mph, humidity 46%, pressure 29.75 in and falling, dew point 29ºF, chance of precipitation 10%.

World News Capsules:
1. Deal close on night raids, US and Afghan officials say.
....The deal would give Afghan authorities legal oversight of nighttime raids on Afghan homes, while allowing American forces to retain a guiding role.
a. Taliban attacks kill 9 Afghan police officers.
....Fourteen officers are also missing after two days of insurgents' attacks, the deadliest of which happened Monday at a police post in Helmand Province.
2. As part of new pact, US Maarines arrive in Australia.
....A group of about 180 Marines arrived on Tuesday night under a deal that will boost the American military’s presence in China’s strategic backyard.
3. In China press, best coverage cash can buy.
....Though banned in China, paying for positive news coverage is so widespread that many publications and broadcasters have rate cards listing prices.
4. French police seize 1o suspected Islamic militants.
....The raids in at least five locations, including Marseille in the south and Roubaix in the north, came 18 days before the first round of voting in the French presidential elections.
5. In a new age of air travel, preferring the old.
....With Berlin Brandenburg Airport set to open, many air travelers say they will miss the convenience of Tegel, an airport designed in an era when vast shopping spaces were not paramount.
6. Impact of Iran sanctions widens.
....Leading oil companies in South Africa and Greece suspended imports of the country’s crude oil, further signs of emergency self-reliance emerging in Iran.
7. Battle between rival Libyan militias kills at least 22.
....Militias from rival towns in western Libya battled each other with tanks and artillery in fierce fighting that killed at least 22 people, local officials said.
8. Malaysian activists plan protest over electoral system.
....The activists said they would stage the protest because a parliamentary committee's recommendations for electoral reform were unlikely to eliminate voting fraud.
9. As Myanmar changes, so does its leader
....Pres. U Thein Sein, a once-loyal apparatchik of a brutal military junta, is chipping away at some of its worst legacies.
a. Southeast Asian leaders call for end to Myanmar sanctions.
....Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said that the recent by-elections in Myanmar argued in favor of lifting sanctions.
10. Court rejects Palestinians in their bid for a tribunal
....For the Palestinian Authority, which had sought an investigation of an Israeli military offensive, the ruling was a setback to its effort to gain international recognition as a state.
11. Russia accuses group of undermining peace plan in Syria.
....Russia renewed its denunciation of the so-called “Friends of Syria” coalition, a day after rebels said government forces were escalating military assaults.
a. Fire kills 17 in Moscow workers' dormitory.
....The building was cited for fire code violations a month ago, highlighting Russia’s problems with enforcing basic safety standards.
12. Somali Olympic committee chief killed in Mogadishu suicide blast.

....The president of Somalia's Olympic committee and the head of the country's soccer federation were among those people killed by a female suicide bomber at Mogadishu's newly reopened national theater.
13. African National Congress acts to silence a critic.
....Julius Malema, the polarizing leader of the party’s youth league, was fighting for his political life after accusing the South African president, Jacob Zuma, of becoming a dictator.

US News Capsules:
1. As Texas cleans up, Southeast braces for twisters.

....As experts assessed reports that up to 18 tornadoes hit the Dallas area, especially in Arlington and Lancaster, the cleanup and rebuilding began for 1000s of residents from the more than 800 homes destroyed or damaged.
2. Report: Oikos University shooting suspect 'can't deal with women.'

....The 43-year-old Korean-American, who had been expelled from Oikos University for "anger management" issues, had been cooperative since being taken into custody but was "not particularly remorseful," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said.
3. Cops pepper spray 30 at Santa Monica College course fees protest.
[/img]
.....Up to 30 people were pepper-sprayed by police after students tried to storm a Santa Monica College trustee board meeting during a public comment period in protest over proposed higher course fees.
4. 'Pink slime' in your meat? Labels to tell you, USDA says.

....As consumers clamor for more transparency about the beef product dubbed “pink slime,” federal agriculture officials have agreed to allow several meat producers to list the stuff on package labels.
5. Detroit, staggering with debt, new struggles with a rescue plan.
....Detroit faces being assigned an emergency manager because of its $12 billion debt, and efforts to find an alternative solution were snarled in legal and political battles.
6. Agency trip to Las Vegas is the talk of Washington.
....Many in Washington are wondering how the General Services Administration could not have known that spending $822,000 on a luxury trip was going to cause an outcry.
7. Jurors told that church put off abuse complaints.
....A victim of alleged sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest at a summer camp testified in a Philadelphia court that church officials took more than 10 years to resolve his complaint.
8. Regulators expectd to penalize JPMorgan over Lehman collapse.

....The decision to penalize JPMorgan for actions tied to the collapse of Lehman Brothers is the first federal enforcement case to stem from Lehman's downfall.
9. Yahoo to cut 2,000 jobs.
....The Internet company said it would lay off 2,000 out of 14,000 employees as part of a broader restructuring effort under Scott Thompson, the new chief executive.
POLITICS:
1. Romney sweeps Wisconsin, Maryland and D.C. and turns to Obama.

....Romney strengthened his grip on the GOP nomination by virtue of winning the three states, the most competitive of which was in Wisconsin, a state seen as necessary for Rick Santorum, the chief conservative rival to Romney, to retaining viable hopes of winning the nomination.
2. After Wisconsin, writing on wall for GOP contest.
....Unless the extraordinary occurs, Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican presidential nominee.
3. Obama, in talk, calls House GOP budget the work of rightist radicals.
....Pres. Obama said the Republican budget would deepen inequality in the US, part of an indictment of the party that included his likely opponent in the fall, Mitt Romney.
4. Romney says Obama hides his agenda.
....Mitt Romney said that Pres. Obama’s recent remarks call “his candor into serious question."
5. Gay rights bill appears to fail in Anchorage.
....With much of the vote counted, voters in Alaska’s largest city appeared to overwhelmingly reject Proposition 5.
6. Looking ahead, Republicans examine options in health care fight.
....Optimistic about a possible Supreme Court ruling against the law, lawmakers are giving past proposals a second look, with lowering health costs a priority.

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Doctors call for end to 45 common medical tests.
Nine medical societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American College of Cardiology, representing nearly 375,000 physicians are challenging the widely held perception that more health care is better, releasing lists Wednesday of tests and treatments their members should no longer automatically order.
The 45 items listed include most repeat colonoscopies within 10 years of a first such test, early imaging for most back pain, brain scans for patients who fainted but didn't have seizures, and antibiotics for mild- to-moderate sinus distress. Also on the list: heart imaging stress tests for patients without coronary symptoms. And a particularly sobering recommendation calls for cancer doctors to stop treating tumors in end-stage patients who have not responded to multiple therapies and are ineligible for experimental treatments.
Dr. Christine Cassel, president of the American Board of Internal Medicine, said the goal is to reduce wasteful spending without harming patients. She suggested some may benefit by avoiding known risks associated with medical tests, such as exposure to radiation. "We're doing this because we think we don't need to ration health care if we get rid of waste." Her group sets standards and oversees board certification for many medical specialties.
The recommendations come at a time when American health care is undergoing far-reaching changes. No matter what the Supreme Court decides on President Barack Obama's health overhaul, employers, lawmakers, insurers and many doctors are questioning how the United States spends far more on medical care than any other economically advanced country and still produces mediocre results overall.
One recommendation likely to stir controversy, and even revive charges of "death panels," is to not use chemotherapy and other treatments in patients with advanced solid-tumor cancers such as colorectal or lung who are in poor health and did not benefit from previous chemo. Such treatment is widespread but it is unlikely to extend their life or improve its quality.
Dr. James Fasules of the American College of Cardiology said the goal is to begin changing attitudes among patients and doctors."We kind of have a general feeling that if you don't get a test, you haven't been cared for well," said Fasules. "That has permeated American culture now." The new advice isn't meant to override a doctor's judgment, Fasules added, but to inform and support decisions. The recommendations will be circulated to consumers and doctors by a coalition calling itself Choosing Wisely, which includes employer groups, unions, AARP and Consumer Reports. Neither the insurance industry nor the federal government was involved in process.
The medical groups that participated are: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American College of Radiology, American Gastroenterological Association, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Nephrology, and American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.

Thought for Today
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
--[/i]Maya Angelou (b. 1928), American poet.

Today's flower: Lilium or Loreto Asiatic lily



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Lady Luck Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 96th day of 2012 with 269 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:15 p.m., it's cloudy , temp 64ºF [Feels like 64ºF], winds SSW @ 8 mph, humidity 70%, pressure 30.07 in and steady, dew point 54ºF, chance of precipitation 15%.

Today in History:


World News Capsules:

US News Capsules:

Today's Headlines of Interest:


Thought for Today
"

Today's flower:
[/img]

[/img]
[/i][/size][/color]

[pegasus]

Lady Luck Day
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 96th day of 2012 with 269 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 4:34 p.m., it's cmostly loudy , temp 41ºF [Feels like 34ºF], winds NW @ 12 mph, humidity 51%, pressure 29.95 in and falling, dew point 24ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

World News Capsules:
1. Bus-size dinosaurs, fuzzy as chicks.
....Fossils of a previously unrecognized dinosaur found in China show that it is the largest known feathered animal, living or extinct, scientists report.
2. Anti-American Egyptian candidate may be tripped up by mother's US ties.
....Sheik Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Islamist at the front of Egypt’s presidential race, may not be able to run because his mother became an American citizen before she died.
3. A presidential race leaves French Muslims feeling like outsiders.
....Even in Marseille, a city renowned for its tolerance, Muslims lament that when they are spoken of at all, they are referred to in divisive terms.
a. France rules out sending troops to Mali as rebels proclaim ceasefire.
....France ruled out a “military solution” in its former colony of Mali to counter rebels in the north.
4. Maid's cries cast light on child labor in India.
....A 13-year-old girl who worked as a maid reportedly led a life akin to slavery, in a symptom of India's growing middle class and its demand for domestic workers, jobs often filled by children.
a, India's leaders dispute report of rift with military.
....A newspaper recounted January maneuvers, involving nighttime advances on New Delhi, that it said had taken the government by surprise.
5. Iran's efforts to stir Afghan violence worry US.

....American officials say Iran secretly ordered its agents in Afghanistan to exploit public outrage over the burning of Korans, though it has failed to provoke widespread or lasting unrest.
6. Rocket from Sinai lands in Israel.
....At least one rocket fired from the Egyptian Sinai peninsula struck Israel’s southern resort city of Eilat, causing alarm but no injuries.
7. US moves toward normalizing relations with Myanmar.
....The Obama administration announced its most significant steps to date to normalize relations, lifting the travel ban on some of the country's senior leaders and easing sanctions.
8. Serbian president resigns to force early election.
....Facing a challenge from the right, the pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, will ask Serbian voters for a fresh mandate in voting expected in May.
9. South Sudan says it shot down Sudan jet amid clashes.
....The jet was one of a number of Sudanese warplanes bombing South Sudan’s oil-rich Unity State, a South Sudanese spokesman said, underlining a worry that a full-fledged war will break out.
10. Violence worsening in Syria in spite of pledge, UN says.

....Spasms of fierce new fighting, some just miles from Syria’s capital, were reported, and the leader of the United Nations said the conflict was getting worse and the tanks must be silenced.
11. UK: Murdoch's Sky New channel discloses 3-mail hacing.

....Sky News, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, admitted that it had hacked into e-mails on two occasions but said the actions were in the public interest.
a. Pinning Scottish independence on a fervor for 1314.
....Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, wants a referendum in 2014, counting on a surge in nationalist feelings stirred by memories of the Battle of Bannockburn against the English in 1314.
12. Pope assails 'disobedience' among priests.

....In a tough pre-Easter homily, Pope Benedict XVI denounced reform-minded priests who seek the ordination of women and the abolition of priestly celibacy.
13. Chavez returns to Venezuela after radiation treatment.

....Appearing healthy and walking unaided, Pres. Hugo Chavez returned to Venezuela after a second round of radiation that he said went well treatment in Cuba.

US News Capsules:
1. Octuplets' mom: "I feel ashamed" about claiming food stamps.

....After vowing never to go on public assistance, octuplet mom Nadya Suleman is accepting food stamps because of dire financial straits. “I made that call reluctantly.
2. NFL: Audio reveals defensive coordinator urging Saints to injure 49ers.

....Before his final game as defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints, Gregg Williams stepped before his players and urged them to physically hurt players on the 49ers. Audio of Williams’ speech to the Saints’ defense was captured by filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who is working on a documentary about former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is suffering from ALS.
3. Drivers grumble (naturally) over NYC's new cabs.

....This week the independent and fleet taxi owners will be getting a first look at the vehicles that will replace the aging Ford Crown Victoria sedans that have long served as the majority of New York’s yellow cabs. And like most city taxi drivers, Hakan Karakas has a ready opinion on everything – especially when you ask him about the “Taxi of Tomorrow.” “It’s like the communists have taken over,” he laments. “This is a free market, and I should be able to choose what I drive.”
4. For economists, reason for sharp drop in jobless rate is a mystery.

....Over the past six months, the U.S. unemployment rate has surprised economists by rapidly falling to 8.3% from 9.1% even as the economy has yet to get back up to pre-recession speed. According to the textbooks, that’s not supposed to happen.
5. Scientists link gene mutation to autism risk.
....Scientists have for the first time identified several gene mutations that they say sharply increase the chances of autism, and have found that the risk increases with the age of the parents, particularly the father.
6. 5 ex-police officers sentenced in post-Katrina shootings.
....The former New Orleans police officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 38 to 65 years for their roles in the deadly shootings of unarmed residents and for a cover-up afterward.
7. Plan to let poultry plants inspect birds is criticized.
....The Agriculture Department says the expansion of poultry inspections by private companies will modernize an outdated system, but some federal inspectors say the plan puts consumers at risk.
8. Untangling a border could leave a mess for some.

....As a team works to restore the North Carolina-South Carolina border to the original 1772 lines, some worry about the consequences. It could mean that some of Judy Helms's four-acre property in Clover, S.C., is in North Carolina. Her dog's house, however, would remain in South Carolina.
9. US Navy plowing ahead on new coastal ship, despite woes.
....After a decade-long tale of soaring costs, canceled contracts and blown deadlines, the Pentagon is still embracing the Littoral Combat Ship as the future of naval warfare.
10. Chancellor asks community college to hold off on tuition plan.
....The chancellor of Santa Monica College in California says that the legality of a program that would charge more for popular courses is still in question.
11. Appeals court hears arguments on gay marriage law.
....The case, whose arguments were heard in Boston, is the first challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act to reach a federal appeals court.
12. Huffington gains more control n AOL revamping.
....One year after its acquisition by AOL, The Huffington Post has become a source of growth with several business units now in Arianna Huffington's hands, a move intended to add sections and products faster.
13- Officials are set to seize antiquity.
....Federal agents in New York moved to seize a 1,000-year-old Cambodian statue from Sotheby's, alleging that Sotheby's knew that it had been stolen from an ancient temple.
14. Testing one's metal.
....Tiffany & Co. is trumpeting that, in honor of its 175th anniversary, alchemists have made a new precious metal called Rubedo, which is a pinkish mixture of gold, silver and copper.
15. The make-your-own schoolhouse.
....At the Brooklyn Brainery, a hipster schoolhouse started by a pair of underemployed polymaths, students can learn abstruse subjects like the secret lives of bacteria.
16. IS Coast Guard to sink Japanese boat washed away by twunami.

....The US Coast Guard has deployed a ship to sink a fishing trawler that was swept away more than a year ago by the tsunami off the coast of Japan and is now adrift near Alaska.
POLITICS:
1. Gingrich's health think tank files for bankruptcy.

....In another black eye for the GOP candidate, the Gingrich Group LLC, flagship of what's known in Washington, D.C. as "Newt, Inc.," says it's seeking Chapter 7 liquidationin the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Georgia, The vast majority of Gingrich's net worth is tied up in the Gingrich Group.
2. Budget author, a Romney ally, turns into a campaign focus.
....Both Mitt Romney and Pres. Obama are seizing on the Republican House budget, and its ambitious young architect, Rep. Paul D. Ryan, as a defining issue of the unfolding campaign.
3. Santorums ees long campaign ahead, but many see dead end.
....Advisers to Rick Santorum acknowledged that the road ahead is a lot steeper and more potholed now after Mitt Romney’s three-primary sweep.
4. Court's potential to goad voters swings to Democrats.
....The charge of judicial activism that has long motivated Republican voters could become useful for Democrats, strategists in both parties suggest.
5. Romney, GOP must remember lessons from Palin veepstakes.

....The Republican Party’s 2008 experiment with Sarah Palin looms over Mitt Romney as he begins pivoting to the general election and looks to select a running mate. That experience led former White House chief of staff John E. Sununu – a former governor of New Hampshire who’s become one of Romney’s top surrogates – to warn Monday in the Boston Globe: “In the end, there is only one imperative: don’t blow it.”

Today's Headlines of Interest:

Rock musician gets rabies shots after bat pees in his eye.

What is it about bats and heavy-metal musicians? Ozzy Osbourne famously interacted with a bat in another way back in 1982, but now a member of heavy metal band Torche is wishing he never came in contact with one of the winged creatures.
“Ok so... A bat peed in my eye,” guitarist Andrew Elstner wrote on his Facebook page March 29. “Whether or not you think I'm telling the truth is irrelevant at this point. What I'm worried about now is rabies. A bat. It pissed into my eye. [God] help me.” The musician was staying at a friend’s house in St. Louis when he discovered a trapped and frightened bat in one of the rooms. "I switch on the overhead light/ceiling fan combo and what I think at first is a shadow being cast from the spinning fan blades turns out to be a freaking bat,” the musician explained. “It circles the room a few times at light speed, and on one of the turns, dive bombs my head and squirts a little nervous pee into my eye. Holy [expletive]. I'm laughing but run to the sink and attempt to flush my eye out. I'm pretty sure I'm fine but...Not the most common of occurrences.”
Elstner initially brushed it off, but, at the recommendation of both his parents and doctors, the musician went to the hospital to be treated a day later. He added, “With rabies, you have a short window to get treated, and beyond that, it is incurable and 100% fatal. Having said all that, I feel like I'm getting treated for a unicorn bite. Bunch of nonsense.”
The guitarist, whose Florida-based band is on the road promoting the April 24 release of their new album, Harmonicraft, has since swapped his own Facebook profile photo for that of a fang-baring bat, and has continued to find humor in the situation, posting various updates and coverage of his story to fans. “The bat peeing in my eye story has finally achieved critical mass,” Elstner wrote Wednesday, when his story was picked up by Pitchfork Media. “What a truly strange, though now harmless, event in my life.”
Do you think that the bat collective was trying to get even for Ozzy Osbourne's homicidal act? Or is it that heavy metal musicians just have an unusual affinity for bats? Hmmmm, inquiring minds want to know.

Time to ditchthe umbrella? Drought hits 20 million in southeast England.

London has an undeserved reputation as a rainy city, but this year could see that image shattered in dramatic fashion, with much of southeast England gripped by a serious drought. Restrictions on the use of water were imposed Thursday from the southeast coast to the River Humber in the north and almost as far west as Wales.
By the time the Olympics comes to London in July, further controls could be introduced, so that those arriving for the greatest show on Earth may find a parched, somewhat grubby city. The event itself, however, will be exempt, so rest assured there will be water in the diving pool, the rowers will not in find themselves marooned and the smiles of the synchronized swimmers will remain fixed.
In an attempt to prevent the situation getting worse, seven English water companies imposed a so-called "hosepipe ban" Thursday – mainly designed to reduce the amount of water used in people's yards -- and urged people to cut back on water use by, for example, reducing time spent in the shower to just four minutes

Ignoring the ban could result in a fine of more than $1,500. “We have now received below-average rainfall across our region for 20 of the past 25 months, making it the driest two-year period since records began in 1884,” Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames Water, said in a statement. “Imposing restrictions on the use of [hoses], although regrettable, is the most sensible and responsible next step in encouraging everyone to use less water so we can maintain supplies for as long as it stays dry, and reduce the risk of more serious restrictions later in the year,” he added.

(Walkers make their way around the banks of Bewl Water reservoir)
Charlie Powell, a meteorologist at the U.K.’s Met Office, said there was no sign of an imminent downpour over the drought-affected areas. Little rain was expected to fall over the next few days although about 0.4 inches was expected Monday “in a few places...Nothing too torrential. Anything is better than nothing at this stage, but no significant, prolonged rainfall,” Powell said. He added that March had been particularly dry with much of the U.K. as a whole receiving less than half the average rainfall for that month. This came after a winter that saw eastern Scotland and south and eastern England receive about 75 % of average rainfall, while northern Ireland and the north and west of Scotland was particularly wet with 120 %.
One regularly mooted solution to drought in the south is pipe water from Scotland, which usually has plenty to spare. But this is not a “practical” option: water is heavy and therefore expensive to move and also has a different chemical makeup in different places due to the type of rock and treatments used to make it drinkable that could cause problems in the pipes, such as corrosion.
But the question remains, will British people pull together, let their prized hydrangeas wilt in the sun and put up with being slightly less well washed? One indicator could be how willing people are to report neighbors who break the hose ban to authorities. According a non-scientific poll in The Guardian more than 70% would not.
Maybe if they had more faith in what the government tells them, they would. Hmmmm? You thnk?

Thought for Today
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."
--[/i]Colin Powell (b. 1937), US Army general, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93). US Secretary of State (2001-2004).

Today's flower: Dahlias



[/size][/color]

[pegasus]

GOOD FRIDAY
Good afternoon from Tuxy and me
This is the 97th day of 2012 with 268 days left in the year.
Today in NY's Finger Lakes at 12:52 p.m., it's fair , temp 43ºF [Feels like 36ºF], winds NW @ 15 mph, humidity 45%, pressure 30.11 in and steady, dew point 23ºF, chance of precipitation 0%.

World News Capsules:
1. Karzai orders prosecutor and tribunal in scandal over Kabul bank's losses.
.....The Afghan president ordered that hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding loans by the bank be repaid within two months.
2. Police descend on Bahrain rally for hunger striker.
....Bahraini security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at 1000s of protesters marching in support of a jailed human rights activist whose nearly two-month hunger strike has become a powerful rallying point for the tiny nation's Shiite-led uprising against the Sunni monarchy.
3. "Line of blood": 11,541 red chairs symbolize the victims of the siege of Sarajevo.

.... With a line of 11,541 red chairs, one for each victim of the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia remembered when war broke out 20 years ago and the West dithered in the face of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II.
4. China says wanted militants use nearby countries to stage attacks.
....Chinese security officials have issued a wanted list of six suspected members of a militant group that they said is using a number of Asian nations as staging grounds for terror attacks.
5. Will France stomach a leader who won't eat cheese?

....It’s a matter of (spurious) debate if France’s president is a “surrender monkey,” but one thing seems clear: He is no longer cheese-eating. Pres. Sarkozy decided to stop savoring "le fromage" after meals, preferring healthier"light, balanced meals and poultry to red meat,"
a. Sarkozy and his rivals trade attacks as vote nears.
....With less than three weeks before the first voting round, Pres. Sarkozy and his Socialist rival, François Hollande, raised sharp accusations about one another.
6. From philanthropist to public enemy in Georgia.
....Georgia’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced his opposition to the president in October, and the government’s subsequent revocation of his citizenship was upheld this week.
7. British broadcaster with Murdoch link admits to hacking.
....Great Britain's hacking scandal spilled into television as Sky News, whose parent company is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, said a reporter had accessed e-mail.s
8. Italian populist party leader who one backed Berlusconi quits, ending an era.
....Umberto Bossi - who founded the conservative, anti-immigrant Northern League - was famous for his cigars, white tank-tops and salty language.
9. US concerned about Malawi after reported death of president.

....Malawian Pres. Bingu wa Mutharika, once hailed as a positive steward for the southern African country, has died after a heart attack, government officials said.
10. Mali rebels proclaim independent state to north.
....Tuareg rebels who overran much of northern Mali after disaffected soldiers toppled the government in the south declared an independent state called Azawad.
11. Pakistani lawmakers criticize US reward for militant leader.
....During a heated session of Parliament, government and opposition officials rejected the $10 million bounty for a militant leader linked to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India.
12. Russia rages after US jails notorioius arms dealer.

....Moscow slammed the 25-year prison sentenced imposed on Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout by a US court, saying repatriating the man known as the “Merchant of Death” would be “one of our top priorities in Russian-American relations.” Bout was caught in an undercover sting in Bangkok in 2008 by U.S. agents posing as Colombian guerrillas seeking weapons and later extradited to New York.
a. $30,000 watch vanishes up church leader's sleeve.

....An opulent watch — a source of public embarrassment — disappeared from the wrist of Kirill I, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, in a doctored photo. The Breguet watch.s reflection remained on the table. The Russian Orthodox Church Web site later restored it.
13. Loyalty to Syrian president could isolate Hezbollah.

....Though it remains strong, Hezbollah could find itself caught up in a sectarian war between Iran, the region's Shiite power, and Saudi Arabia, a protector of Sunni interests.
a. New clashes fuel UN skepticism of promises by Syria.

....The Syrian government said it was following a special envoy's cease-fire plan, but the leader of the United Nations said the conflict was getting worse.
14. Tunisia jails 2 for posting cartoons on Facebook.
....The two Tunisian men were sentenced to seven years in prison for posting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook, the Justice Ministry said.
15. "Jesus...do not take me yet," weeps cancer-stricken Chavez.

....Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wept and asked God to spare his life during a pre-Easter Mass after returning from his latest session of cancer treatment in Cuba.
a. Ramp? Mall? Ship? No, a Titan's new tomb.

....The 17-story-tall white-tiled mausoleum being built in Caracas to hold the remains of Simón Bolívar looks to many people here like, among other things, the world’s biggest skateboard ramp.

US News Capsules:
1. US hiring rate slows, raising worries about recovery.

....The nation's unemployment rate dipped slightly in March, but the economy's job-creating engine slowed, raising concerns about the strength of the recovery.
a. Jobs report tempers hopes of accelerating US recovery.

....The United States economy added a disappointing 120,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported on Friday, about half the gains posted in each of the preceding three months
2. New treatments to save a pet, but questions about the cost.
....A long list of diseases that were once terminal can now be treated, but people must consider: Save a life or extend it? At what quality? At what price?
3. US Navy jet crashes into Virginia neighborhood; homes ablaze.

....Emergency crews were searching for victims among the wreckage at a cluster of apartments in Virginia Beach, Va., after a Navy F/A-18 jet crashed into the complex, setting a number of buildings on fire,.
4. Catholic fund cuts off aid over groups' affiliations.
....The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is under pressure from conservative Catholics to ensure that it is not helping organizations that run afoul of church positions.
5. For Detroit, a path to recovery under state oversight.
....Detroit, the capital of America's auto industry and once its fourth-largest city, just became the most striking test case for a key question: Can a city that has fallen so far be saved?
6. Microsoft is writing checks to fill out its app store.
....In an effort to challenge the dominance of Apple and Google, Microsoft has increased incentives for developers to create brand-name apps for its Windows Phone app store.
7. For two food giants, defining fresh fruit is not cut and dried.
....Fresh Del Monte and Del Monte Foods are in a legal struggle over whether some fruit sold in refrigerated plastic containers is fresh or processed.
8. Spring in the air and on the racks, helps retailers.
....A range of retailers said their sales last month were better than expected, particularly in the trendy apparel sector, suggesting that shoppers are snapping up spring fashions.
9. ART" You can almost hear him sigh.

....A self-portrait by Rembrandt, never before exhibited in this country, is on view at the Metropolitan Museum for the next several weeks.
POLITICS:
1. Santorum's daugher Bella is taken to hospital.

....Rick Santorum's daughter, Bella, afflicted with a chromosomal disorder, was taken to the hospital for the second time during this campaign. Santorum is home in Virginia for the Easter holiday.
2. Republican committee makes big turnaound on fund-raising
.
....Once teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, the Republican National Committee has accumulated large cash reserves that could give Mitt Romney a critical boost.
3. On jobs, Obama and Romney argue over fullness of the glass.
....Pres. Obama emphasized the last three months of job creation while Mitt Romney argued that Mr. Obama has been a failed economic steward.
4. Fighting to repeal an execution law they once championed
.

....Two men behind Proposition 7, a tough death penalty initiative passed in 1978, now see it as one of the biggest mistakes they ever made.
5. Obama signs bill to promote start-up nvestments.
....Pres. Obama was eager to highlight his administration’s efforts to revive the job market on the eve of another politically significant employment report.
6. Opinion: Appeals Court insults Obama.

....Laurence H. Tribe says it is appeals court Judge Jerry Smith, not Pres. Obama, who overstepped when it comes to the health care law.

Thought for Today
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
..Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), English logician, mathematician and novelist.

Today's flower: Dahlia or 'Momentum' Dahlia